Proclaim the Presence of God

Every family has routines — from the getting-up-and-getting-going groove, to the daily-drill, all the way to the beaten-path-to-bedtime.

Does your family routine include spending time every day, attentive to God’s presence?

It’s a behavior that needs to be taught.

Cultivate coming to recognize and experience God’s presence.

Here are some ways to teach your family to take note of God!

• Make it a habit at every dinner table gathering to review everyone’s day with a sharing of highs and lows. Add in the question: where did you see God today?
• Take a walk with a camera. Take photos of God at work around you. Puffy clouds with a blue, blue sky? Yes!
• Is your child worried about something? Model for them the behavior of remembering when: Tell a story about a way that God has cared for you in the past. Encourage them to recall their own story. (Remember how you were afraid to go on that ride at the fair?)
• Practice gratefulness. Start recording your thankfuls. (I’m up to #1756.) [Updated for December 2014 — I’m at #2985. Counting up reveals joy in all sorts of moments!]
• Find God in the Bible. Read a passage using the practice of reading scripture known as Lectio Divina. Ask: “Where is God in this story?”
• Add and subtract. Consider what needs to be reduced or augmented in your life, to make room for noticing God.
• Admit that God is easy to see when life is full. Encourage looking for God, even in hard times.

Is God’s presence proclaimed in your family on a daily basis?

Photo credits:
Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
State fair photo by my niece, Sarah Clouse. Used with permission. Other photos from my archives.