My Quiet Time Buddy

My middle son, Ben, and I are the early birds of the family. I get up in the morning and have my quiet time (devotions). Ben usually gets up and joins me in the living room while everyone else is asleep. When I read my Bible, he has a little Gideon New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs Bible that he holds and pretends to read. If I'm in the New Testament I turn to the passage I'm reading. If I'm in the Old Testament, I turn to a page in the Psalms or Proverbs. Then I read aloud to him from my Bible.

This morning, he woke up a grump. He just complained, without words. First he did want his Bible open, then he did, then he wanted me to do something with it. I could not figure it out. Finally, this got to be so disruptive that I had to send him to his room so that I could finish my quiet time. Boy, he did not like that, but I wanted him to learn to respect my time with God and more than that, to respect God.

Other than occasional times like that, having Ben be part of my quiet time has been a good experience. When I pray, I will often pray out loud so that he can hear examples of how to pray and what to pray for. One of the things I always pray for, and do it out loud, is for my kids, their well being, their salvation, and that God will prepare their future spouses.