True to Life Tuesday: Slices

I woke up swinging today.

The fight wasn’t my own and I never let fly any literal punches, but I felt the blows to my temple and gut.

When my eyelids are sprung by bird calls and 5:15 sunshine, I don’t mind. When my whole body jerks to a scream from one of two boys who can’t agree on how to play at 5:45, I mind.

My hands did fly a bit, but it was in getting dressed quickly. The cries didn’t let up, though I hoped for a pause. A moment to register with some reasonable thought. Take a breath, fall into wisdom, please let go of yourself for a moment little one…let it pass.

I sat with them, talked, let their little souls settle down before I allowed them to tell me what was wrong. They never really did tell me. They did let it pass, once I established peace for each of them.

I encouraged them to take a step back and look again at what had stiffened their necks. What causes you to rage? Who determines your level of anger? What does it do for you? What does it do for others? Who is impressed, influenced or cared for when we explode at our targets? Debris flies, words cut, whining irritates, integrity flees and our own character is the victim. Emotion is not our friend when we cannot control it.

I sat there and wondered how to keep this from continuing and questioned myself. How do I keep the flood from rising again and again? How do I conquer the surge of emotion I often experience. My only answer was the Word.

My boys do the regular stuff when it comes to the Word. Little of it is actual routine, but Owen reads his Bible fairly regularly, we have several little boy devotionals they dig into, they memorize Scriptures and we talk about what the Bible says in many circumstances. That’s never been enough for my life though, and I wonder that I thought it was enough for them.

Too often we serve the Bible in it’s entirety. Like bringing an uncut loaf to the table and encouraging the family to dig in. Until it is sliced, the whole of it is overwhelming. Until I was eating the intimacies of the Word daily, breaking bread with Christ and hearing His heart directly, I struggled to control my emotions, thoughts, words, etc. They need that too.

I talked to them about having Christ in their hearts, what the Word is according to John 1:1, and what it’s like to connect the Word with the Spirit and let fireworks go off inside of our hearts.

We are going to take in slices of Proverbs every day at breakfast. Me, them and the Spirit of God at the table. We aren’t going to read just to read, we’re going to understand, break the bread, savoring truth and with the goal of leaving changed.

Today we read two verses, I explained the allegory, defined the words and found examples from real life to show them. There were constant interruptions, “sit up straight, keep eating, don’t swing your fork.” and at least one bathroom break was needed, but it was a start.

How do you fill your kids with the Word? Do you have a daily routine for Scripture reading or devotion? I am sadly lacking in routine in most areas of my life, but I am continually striving to do better. How do you overcome the attacks against time in the Word for yourself and your family?