Amanda's Books and More: Make My Saturday Sweet

Last weekend my eldest daughter, Jessica, was at a prayer conference. The last day of the conference, I was driving her home and telling her to throw out anything that would give her a guilt trip. I said, "If the speaker told you that you need to pray at 4 am to show your dedication, don't do it." Guess what she said? "Mom, he said that he gets up at 4 am to pray and then asked if any of us would be willing to do something like that." I laughed, because I had guessed right.

I once read a book on the "perfect" prayer method. However, I've come to learn that there is no perfect method. I told Jessica that she should pray only as she feels led to pray and to pray anytime, anywhere. Sometimes, the Lord has woken me in the night and given me a burden to pray for someone. I told my daughter that too. It's just that no one needs a guilt trip in their faith walk. Religion of any kind is a burden. Jesus came to bring a relationship and each relationship is unique. The quote below is my own.

We were having trouble with the bigger kids following through on things that we feel are important to running a happy home, so I drew up this family action plan about a week ago. (You can click on the image below to make it bigger.) Some points on this list look similar, but I had my reasons and I explained them to the kids. My eldest daughter added one point to the list, "Respect personal boundaries." The other two didn't have anything to add. Our youngest child, Amanda, is only expected to pick up her toys, to put her story books away, and to join us every morning for family prayer time. We still help her with picking up.

This list is now on our refrigerator. There are consequences if the three bigger kids don't at least try to follow it. We don't ask for perfection. We just don't want to have to remind them every day about things that they already know. Do you have something like this for your family? Does it help?