Without mincing words, I will boldly admit that the thing I admire most about the Mormons is the Family Home Evening that actually happens. In spite of the fast paced lives we all now lead, one day each week, devout Mormon families have a devotional which includes all ages.

It took me years to figure out how to get my own quiet time for prayer and Bible study worked into my schedule. And that was only dealing with one person over whom I had some control, me.

When your kids are grown or are very young and don't yet have busy schedules of their own, you only need deal with your mate. Depending on his temperament and profession, this may be fairly easy or virtually impossible. In my case, it was the latter.

We're Too Busy!

My husband is a school superintendent who is more than dedicated! Meetings, games, plays, you name it, he is somewhere almost every night! And we were both becoming frustrated at our catch-as-catch-can devotionals which happened once or twice a week instead of the daily times we had planned to share with the Lord.

So, in the infinite optimism of a morning person, my dear spouse suggested we arise at the crack of dawn for our devotionals. Can you guess how long that lasted?!

Now, I love the Lord and I love praising Him, praying to Him, learning more of Him, BUT I kept falling asleep! There had to be another way…

And it had to be later in the day!

Well, we all know the old saw: "Where there's a will, there's a way." So we struggled along with one plan after another until we began to see a pattern we could actually use in some consistent way.

We were just working that out when a new addition arrived. Sonja, a teen daughter of a friend needed a secure home, so we had a kid in the house again, praise God. But as much of a blessing as she is, she has a busy teenager schedule and active social life, so it was back to the drawing board.

What we finally decided is that we would never make this work on a daily basis without examining our priorities. Unless each of us puts the Lord and our shared time with Him as a top priority, our family devotionals would become more and more infrequent.

Here's Our Solution

I use a daily planner, but I'm the only one in our family who does so. Both Richard and Sonja seem to carry their schedules in some secret cranial vault I was born without.

Anyway, once a week, I go over our various appointments, games, meetings, etc. and we work out a mutual time for each day's devotional. I write these in my planner and remind the other two each morning. (No, we don't meet in the mornings any more.)

Of course, there are times when one of us is out town, but those at home can still share a devotional.

Sometimes, we only take 15 minutes to pray and praise together, other times, we may spend an hour or more. But at least we can come before our God in mutual love at each day.

Unwilling Partners

If your spouse is unwilling to participate for whatever reason, the children are in even greater need for some family time of worship.

Now, I know they may protest, but you are the parent and have a responsibility here. I strongly suggest including them in scheduling but making it clear that they will participate.

We all know that no one can dictate someone else's religious convictions. God gave us all free agency for a very good reason. However, we, as parents, do have a responsibility to God and the children He placed in our care. We need to expose our children to the Gospel through the lives we lead, the things we say and do, family devotionals, church attendance, etc.

Added Benefits

One thing I notice since we've become more faithful with our family worship times, we're closer as a family! We're each closer to the Lord and to each other.

I pray you and your family will find a way to share your love for each other by worshipping the Lord with daily family devotionals.