When Family Rhythms Get Tired

Spiritual rhythms we practice will sometimes get stale.

It is a sign they have become too routine. Have become ‘rote’. We’ve lost heart.

When this happens we have a decision to make.

If it is a foundational rhythm – one that should not be abandoned – we discover a way to keep it, but redeem it. To make it 'new' again.

But sometimes a complete overhaul is the best solution – doing something entirely different.

Only in the last couple years did our family re-introduce Scripture reading into our evening ritual. And that reading has varied through different seasons.

Two Christmases ago we read the Advent story in Luke – a chapter a night – and continued on by reading through Acts. (Acts is the sequel to Luke)

We then began reading a chapter a night through the Old Testament – to learn more about God making a people for Himself. His tribe.

Most recently we read a portion of the Psalms each night.

Near the end of reading through the Psalms, I began to notice a recurring line of questions rising to my mind: Are our children spiritually prepared for hard times? Persecution and suffering? Would they lean on God through those times?

God responded to those questions by consistently bringing to mind Psalm 23.

By the time we finished reading the Psalms, Sarah and I had resolved to change our rhythm from reading Scripture together to memorizing Scripture together – starting with the 23rd Psalm.

We’ve begun with half a verse each night. We recite the new phrases a few times through. Our four-year-old and I are good partners in this. Her inexperience and my poor memory keep us at a similar pace: slow.

Each evening we add half a verse more and recite it from the beginning.

Those first evenings I would call on children – challenging them to recite it as precisely as they could. Now the younger ones beg to be first to try – asking for a “grade” based on how many mistakes they make.

The best part? Sarah and I are students of God right alongside our children. In my case, getting lower grades than them. It is good for them to see, and has been a refreshing way to live out Deuteronomy 6:4-9 as the parent-priests of our tribe. 

I'm already hoping we can memorize Psalm 1 next:

How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path of sinners
or join a group of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
[…]

Tim Brygger