Holy Experience

I recently stumbled across Holy Experience, the blog of Ann Voskamp. Her writing is beautiful, thoughtful, unique. Several of her posts really moved me. Others were practical and helpful.


Here's the first post I read and the one that drew me in: The One Parenting Habit that Changes Everything.

In the summary, she gives 6 Ways to Develop the Habit of Daily Family Bible Reading:

1. We read 10-15 verses at a time, chronologically through a book of the Bible, less with little children, more with older. We want to savor, chew long.
2. We give each person their own Bible, their own serving, so each person can see Words, what they're eating.
3. We read the Words aloud together, eat like a communal meal. Like we help little ones eat with the fork, we help little ones with words -- oh how they smile, reading Scripture on their own...
4. We discuss, serve the Words around. Children explain meaning, offer summaries, ask questions. Parents taste conviction, confess, repent.
5. We meditate, listen to the Spirit, let each quietly chew the words
6. We close in prayer, voices around the table, sometimes too with a hymn

It seems long. It isn't.

It seems good. It is -- but only for us. But there are many ways for a family to eat Living Words and no one right way. As gathering in each family's home is a beautiful one-of-a-kind experience, so each family eats Words in their own special, creative way.

It seems perfect. It isn't. Days when I sadly want to rush, when children tussle over Bibles (and they are all the same!), when we read too fast and a little cries and no one pays attention. But some meals too are simply edible, hardly memorable, but we don't stop eating. We try the dish again or we change the way we eat or we just smile and set the table with candles next time.

Always, we eat again.


We eat again.

I'm glad I discovered Ann's blog and have added it to Google Reader. If you liked this, you should read more.