Children scurry, moving quickly through morning responsibilities :: brush teeth, get dressed, make beds and such. We all prepare our bodies, minds, and yes our hearts for the event ahead.

It’s ‘morning basket time’ as the little ones in our home are now fond of calling this daily devotional portion of our day. The oldest girl lights the candles, there is a sense of anticipation and hush {well, almost!} and we begin with prayer. As breakfast around the table continues, we pause to spiritually fuel-up for our day.

Morning basket time has become a special highlight.

The idea is simple. Gather several devotional resources we own, place in a basket close by the table, and use often. What an easy organizational tool! Before, the materials used were around the house on different bookshelves and I often forgot we owned them or couldn’t quickly locate a certain book when needed.

So now we come together, a variety of books at our fingertips and visually available to me often so that I can plan accordingly for our week. We take about a 1/2 hr to complete morning basket gathering. Other times it’s been shorter because we are leaving the house earlier or at rare times it’s been a bit longer. The children have enjoyed more structure to our devotions. I think it has to do with the candles, really :: they’re mesmerized by the light.

Our time consists of:

Opening Prayer~thanking the Lord for the day He has given, usually by one of the children

Focus for the Day reading~I plan ahead and choose a selection for each day. Right now in our basket are these resources, some of our favorites representing the various ages in our home:

• NIV Bible
• Hymns for a Kid’s Heart ~ a great series of song books with the story of how each hymn came to be
• A copy of A Catechism for Boys and Girls ~ did you catch Josiah about a year ago answering these questions? It’s still our favorite video of him to watch!
• Training Hearts, Teaching Minds ~ a bit deeper information on the catechism for our older daughter
• Trial and Triumph ~ church history stories
• God’s Wisdom for Little Boys
• God’s Wisdom for Little Girls
• Names of our Father ~ to encourage an understanding of the various names of God
• A Child’s Book of Character Building ~ a new resource to us that is wonderful! Short stories on a variety of biblical character traits. I appreciate the variety, for example last week we read about diligence in the home, diligence at play and diligence in the Bible.
• The Big Picture Story Bible ~ the children love this Bible! The story of God’s redemption is weaved for them from the fall to Christ’s return. Before this we had not owned a children’s Bible that created this perspective for kids. It reads as one long story, which of course it is!
• Sophie and Sam, When to Say ‘Yes’ & ‘No’ ~ a rhyming text resource, excellent for preschoolers.
• The children’s gratitude journals (photo here) ~ this year I’ve decided to begin our kids on a habit that has truly changed my everyday mindset and attitude :: listing the gifts that abound. For our 3-year old, I’ll write, he’ll draw and the older girls can do their own.
• Windows on the World ~ keeping a global prayer perspective
• AWANA books ~ all three kiddos are involved in this weekly Bible club & we work on memorizing the scriptures

We do NOT use all of these resources every day or even each week, but they are available, reminding me to plan them in. After reading, we continue on with….

Celebrations~anything exciting to report! :: family happenings & such. Or we’ll use this time to work on gratitude journals.

Prayer Requests~ for ourselves or others, praying for those around the world or taking time to pray for the child in India we sponsor through Gospel for Asia.

Closing Prayer~ and blow out the candles 😮)

How I love this! A simple tool of placing all resources in a primary location can be used for anyone & for any age group, including adults. Try it out in your home?