"The Good Part"

     The time has come....SCHOOL!!! yes, already. Tomorrow Selah begins 2nd grade! I am not starting anything with my other 3. Joy is just about 8 weeks, Ellie, 18 mo, and Sam just turned 3. The first week of September Sam will be starting Pre-K! He will be going to the same program Selah went to 2 years ago and he has the same teacher, who I really like. His class will be from 8am-10:30am every day, which is when I am "planning" on doing school with Selah. So earlier bedtimes and more scheduled nap times are in my near future=)
    Another thing we are wanting to get more scheduled with is our family devotions. We have been slacking big time! I am sure you all know how it \is! You get convicted about not having family devotions, so you start them. The first night you sing like 5 songs, do a great lesson, prayer request time, and maybe you even throw in a craft!! Then after even a few more days like that you cut out the craft, the songs, and most of the lesson....and in the end, you end up with a short goodnight prayer. The same pattern seems to go with Bible reading, prayer, dieting, and exercising, the way we raise our children...you know, ALL of the things we need and things that are important to the Lord!
WHY in the world is it soooo hard to be consistent? Why do we have such a hard time denying ourselves in order to do more to please the Lord? For example, devotions!  After making and eating dinner I do dishes, and clean up the house from the crazy day, and I am exhausted! Then you have to get all of the kids cleaned up and ready for bed, and then clean up all of the mess you made doing that. All this after a day of diaper changing, feeding babies, preparing meals and snacks, cleaning up along the way, laundry, dishes, errands, school, whining, fighting, etc. etc.(you know the drill!)....and it is very hard to want to then have devotions....by then I just want everyone in their beds sleeping!
    How selfish can I be!? really. It is a shame that I would rather just say a quick prayer with my kids so I can go plop on the couch and eat junk food (which is a whole other subject all together!!!) and watch tv (another subject, lol) so I can "relax", over wanting to spend quality time with my children by teaching them God's Word and filling their little minds and hearts with thoughts of Him before they lay down to sleep. It makes me sad to look at where my priorities have been lately. I think of the words Jesus spoke.....
 ⁴⁰But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
 ⁴¹And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
 ⁴²But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
     And while I want to pass down to my daughters the art of homemaking ,and taking good care of your home, family, and husband, I want even more to pass down to them, and to my son, the "good part". How can I do that if all they see me doing is things around the house all day, then saying a quick prayer and putting them to bed without ever really taking the time to share God's actual Word with them. I will say that I do use the entire day to teach them about the Lord by little comments I make here and there and when they are being corrected, but I want to develop in them a hunger for His Word and I want them to know all of the wonderful promises that can be found in it. 
     I have always struggled with consistency in this area, and as I look back on our family devotions as kids, they were very inconsistent. I do not want my children to struggle with that. I want to teach them to make this a priority, not just a habit, but something they love, and a time they look forward to each day. I don't want them to feel like they can go to sleep until they have had that special time.
    Anyways, just one thing I have been convicted about lately...among many others! God has richly blessed me with these 4 beautiful babies, and I so want to mold them into servants of His. I do not ever want them to resent us, or the ministry, or especially the Lord! My husband feels the same way I do, and I am so thankful for a man that is willing to lead His family for the Lord. I feel for those mommies who do not have a Godly husband who can lead their family in a devotional time.
     But also, let me encourage you mommies who are in that situation, keep it up! If your husband is not leading the children in the ways of the Lord, step up and do it yourself!! Even some "christian" husbands do not think it is important, and in turn the wife just gets bitter and resentful thinking about what the husband "should" be doing, and she neglects to have this special time with her children.....just DO IT! Someone needs to step up and train the children that nothing is more important than having a personal, meaningful relationship with Jesus. When he sees that you are making an effort to make this your priority, he'll eventually feel convicted and step up! Just keep praying fot the Lord to change his heart.
     Well, anyways, we did devotions last night. My husband wasn't home, but the kids and I sang a couple of songs, read a Psalm, and a story in their kid's devotional. I felt so good when they went to bed. Even better than I feel when there is not a dirty dish in the sink, and the house is clean....I am slowly learning, "the good part" and praying I can pass this down to my precious children.