Jesus in your Everyday

For mothers with young children (or any busy mom) it is especially difficult to carve out time to sit down and do a devotional or read your bible every day. So, a group of us young moms started a 5 minute daily devotional book. 5 minutes a day sounds unbelievably easy and yet myself and most of the others don’t find the time each day to do it.

All too often we hear the call of laundry mountain, need to get dinner on the table, and are constantly cleaning up every kind of mess imaginable. By the time our children finally fall asleep and we maybe get the dishes done, there is no energy left to spend on anything that takes effort, which is why I spend all my evenings on the couch watching Netflix.

Instead of feeling guilty that yet again we have put off our bible study or didn’t find time to read our bible (even though I watched TV for two hours), here are 7 effortless ways to begin to centre our everyday lives on Jesus.

1. Start Fresh

Begin each day with a clean slate. It less likely you will do your bible study or devotional if you have 5 days worth of catching up to do. Instead of trying to catch up just do today’s study. You aren’t a slacker or a failure of you miss a couple days (or half the book, in my case).

2. Email

Have a daily devotional sent to your phone. Why is this different than doing a book? Well, if you are anything like me, you probably check your email multiple times a day, and unlike your devotional book or bible, your phone is within arms reach for the majority of the day. Email makes it one step harder to ignore your study for the day.

Here is a 30 day women’s devotional that comes right into your inbox each morning. It only takes 5 minutes of your time and has wealth of good content.
http://www.crossway.org/group/wdb-signup/

3. Music

Trade up pop culture music for worship songs. You will be surprised how quickly you can change a bad attitude, feel uplifted, and reset your day by spending a few minutes praising Jesus. Try listening to the “5 worship songs for you weekend” that is posted to the church website and Facebook each week. Buy some of your favourite songs on iTunes or get an iTunes membership and have access to thousands of worship songs of any genre. Our kids already love singing along to the worship music we play, especially the songs we sing together on Sundays.

4. Read

Take time to read bible stories with your children. They are never too young to hear about Jesus and you might be surprised how much you can learn at the same time. Our favourite is “The big picture interactive bible storybook”. It’s not dumbed down the way a lot of children’s bibles are, yet it is also understandable for young children. There is a “Christ Connection” at the end of each story which relates them to Jesus and his teaching.

5. Play

Similar to reading bible stories is playing the interactive “Bible for Kids” by You Version. It is free in the App Store and is a great way both you and your children can learn about and take part in the major stories of the bible.

6. Pray

Pray together with your children. They may be young, but you’ll find they already do care about your feelings. They care about their friends and family. They are thankful and loving.
Ask your children to pray with you. People, feelings, needs, thankfulness are all great topics for you and your kids to pray about together.

7. Listen

Use your time while making dinner or folding laundry, etc… to listen to the sermon from Sunday or one you have missed from a previous week. They are all posted on the church website and can easily be listened to on your phone, tablet, or computer.

So if you are a busy mom who is struggling to make Jesus the centre of your every day life, one of these small ways can end up making a big difference. The reality is that Jesus “is your life”(Col 3:4), and each step by little step you take towards acknowledging this fact, the more your heart will begin to crave more and more of Jesus himself.