Be Still and Be Present Week 2

My goal is to be honest with you guys even when it’s hard. It is fun to show you the neat crafts we find or the fun books we read, it isn’t as easy to tell you about how I failed. However, I think it is important that you know and remember that we are all human and imperfect and that we just need to keep trying and moving forward. I had some successes and some failures this past week.

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I feel really good about my consistency doing my Bible study. It may not have been a full 30 minutes each day but I did spend time in the Word and in prayer each day last week. I want to keep moving forward and studying. I found this week that I had to get creative a few days. If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen that I was doing my ‘Be Still’ time one day with a sleeping baby in my arms. I have been working through a devotional in the YouVersion App and I could easily do that and spend some time in prayer while I held the baby. That app also works really well for those mornings that I wake up before the children. If I get out of bed, they sense it and start getting up but I can use my phone in bed and read scripture and devotionals and then have my prayer time.

This week I want to continue to work through the Advent devotional that I’m doing in YouVersion. I also want to continue my focus on peace but this week looking at Isaiah 9:6, which tells us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  I created a very simple coloring sheet of  of the names that are included in Isaiah 9:6. It is available to download for free at the end of this post.

This is where my real honesty comes in, I went to bed last Monday and realized I had been running around so hard that I never actually sat down and did what I had planned for ‘Be Present’. Often when I mess up a challenge of activity like that it is really tempting to feel like I failed and just give up. I can’t pretend that it did not cross my mind, but I knew that this was important and that I really wanted to develop these habits in my life. I resolved to not give up, not feel defeated, and just keep moving forward. Throughout the rest of the week we had a great time with various activities. We spent some time one night riding around looking at Christmas lights. It was so simple, we just detoured off of our normal route home from serving at the church and rode around a couple of neighborhoods that are known for having great decorations. We all looked at the lights and talked about our favorites.

Another morning I combined breakfast with our ‘Be Present’ time by bringing breakfast into the living room and reading fun Christmas books while we ate breakfast. It was so simple but so fun that we did it again later in the week. All I did was serve apple breakfast cake that I pulled out of the freezer (low prep and low mess) with a bit of hot apple cider. I even pulled the baby’s high chair into the living room and let him happily munch on his breakfast. While they ate, I read our Bible selections for the day and then a family favorite, Cranberry Christmas.  This activity was truly so easy and so enjoyed that I plan on trying to do it at least once a week.

As I sat down Sunday evening to plan out the week I was thinking about activities that would fit well into our schedule and be enjoyable for our family. Once activity that I know I want to include is a puppet show with my four year old. He has been asking to do a puppet show with popsicle stick puppets and paper.  We have all of the materials so it will only cost me ‘time’ which is what I’m trying to freely give.  I did not get a chance to color a picture with my daughter this past week so it is a top priority this week because she enjoys it so much. My twelve year old has been learning to play the guitar and I want to spend some time with him one day listening to him play and talking about what he wants to learn because that has become a passion for him.  I also think it will be fun for all of us to do a Lego challenge one day. I’m planning on writing different holiday themed items on slips of paper and putting them in a jar or basket. Then I can pull one out and everyone will have 5 minutes to create the item on the slip of paper.

If you didn’t join us last week, be sure to check out the week one post to get your free planning printables. You can jump right in and join us this week, do not worry that you did not start ‘on time’. Simply start when you can and keep going. Our goal is to make this a long term habit. I truly want to hear what you are studying in the Bible this week and what fun activities you have planned with your children.

Prince of Peace (Free coloring sheet. Please download and use for yourself or your family. If you wish to share this with anyone outside of your household please share the link to this post for them to download it for themselves.)

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