Early Morning Scriptures

This year we set some goals together as a family. One of those goals was to improve our scripture study as a family. In the past we have done it in the evening, usually after snack time just before bed. It has always felt a little rushed and like it was "just one more thing to do" before we could get the kids to bed before, as parents, we could have our time to ourselves. Mary has been asking me for a couple of months to consider scriptures in the morning. I was fairly reticent to really consider it because I know that she is not a morning person and I know that I don't like my morning pre-work ritual broken up or impeded and so I'm sometimes a little irritable when it is.

Nevertheless, we talked more about it and I was ready to get on board with this change. We talked about it with the kids and they were game (for the most part). This means that I get up about 25 mins earlier than normal and we rouse the kids around 6:50 so that they can be ready to read at about 7:00. There has certainly been some grumpiness from the kids about this (mostly Sarah) but the actual content of our reading has been so much more meaningful and we have actually had good discussion at times and been able to ask questions and get coherent responses (for the most part).

In my perception of our scripture reading in the past I have felt that we and they have not been very focused and to get through a couple of verses with some meaningful understanding on their part was a huge success. Additionally, I think that I saw this as "good enough" because I felt that maybe the scriptures were still a little over their heads, to some degree Now, I feel like they are really understanding what is happening from one day to the next - they are able to follow the story and we can meaningfully pull out the principles for them to look at and consider. It certainly helps that they are semi-conscious, but I don't think that is even accurate. It's more like their minds are awake but their bodies aren't quite awake yet to be real active and distracting. It has been great! This has also helped us to have a less-rushed and more consistent family prayer together before I head off to work.

I hope to leave for work before 7:20 (so I can be at work at 7:30) and I have to make sure that I have had breakfast and am ready for the day when I wake the kids up for scriptures in the morning. The funny thing about Sarah's grumpiness is that she rarely missed out on saying goodbye to me before I left for work previously, so the kids (with Jane as an exception, as she would sometimes sleep in for a bit in the past) are really only getting up about 10-15 mins earlier than normal.

It has helped, I think, that we have been reading in Alma about Captain Moroni (which is where we were at before the new year) as I think that is a bit more exciting for the kids. I have been impressed with how easy it is for the kids to understand what we have been reading just by having the reading in the morning. It's been great and I'm grateful for a wife that helped us to move in the right direction with our scriptures.

Oh, and I hope that it would be obvious that we do not get up Molly at her age yet. We'll probably wait until she is out of Nursery or is waking up closer to that time. I know this isn't possible for some families depending on what time the parent(s) leave for work but it has been a great blessing to us for the last couple of weeks and we hope for years to come.