Family worship

[Tinuviel]

Hey all! So, I have a slight problem. I am blessed to be in a Christian family! However, the older I get the more I see that mostly it is my Mom that really takes her Christianity seriously. Please don't get me wrong, my Dad is a great person and an awesome provider and seems to be a Christian. I love him (a lot!!). But he doesn't really take any initiative to do spiritual things with the family.

Of course we go to church, and we have a mid-week Bible study we attend, and of course I have a daily time of prayer and scripture reading on my own, but we just don't seem to be able to keep a family devotional time together. During school (I'm home schooled), my Mom always opens with prayer and Bible reading, but that's just mom and the few of us left in school (it doesn't include Dad or some of my siblings that still use home as a place to hang their hat). My Mom has tried to get A family devotional time together numerous times, but we always go for a short time and then stop.

So, my question is: What can I do? This is important enough to me that I would like to keep it together, but do you think my Dad would think that disrespectful? It's not that he resents or dislikes having the devotional time, simply that he doesn't get it together. What should I say and how can I get a devotions time up and going without appearing judgemental or disrespectful?

Please, please just answer my question. I don't want to hear anything bad about my Dad.

Thanks in advance!

~Luthien Tinuviel

 

[Colt45Bullet]

Sit him down, talk to him. Tell him how you feel

 

[Colt45Bullet]

Build a relationship with him. Get to know him, and let him get to know you

 

[Yahweh_is_gracious]

That is a difficult situation to be in. I wish I could give you some advice, but I never had the type of relationship with my folks where I could talk to them about anything. I take care of my Father full time and I still can't talk to him about things. I hope you find some good advice here.

 

[Ariel82]

Just tell him and your mom you really enjoy having the family pray together and if he would help encourage the other kids to make time to spend as a family worshipping God.

He probably gets busy and forgets, but he sounds like a loving dad. So he will probably listen and respect you for approaching him about it.

 

[Tinuviel]

Thanks everyone! And Ariel, yes he is a loving dad, but sometimes I feel like he doesn't quite understand when I tell him things. I probably need to work harder at communicating what I want, but when I am talking about something which I care deeply about I really tend to clam up, so it is difficult! I will continue to pray for opportunities to talk to him, though.

 

[azlightsout]

Praying for u and your situation .

 

[NewWine]

You sound like you have an amazing family!!
Keep talking to him whether you think he really understands or not. He sounds like a good dad, but sometimes dads (or moms) may not realize how important something is to us. Keep talking respectfully to him until you find a way he understands. Parents like to learn their children enjoy the certain things they do, so reinforcing that you enjoy your family prayer time enough to want to make it a regular part of every day or every week may really please him.

When my kids were young, I would write a note and stick it in their lunch boxes. Usually the note just said "Remember..." which meant "remember that mommy loves you". After a while, they stopped writing on the back of the note, "I love you too mommy" and putting it back in the lunch box. I wondered if they really liked that, and after a while I slacked off on the notes. They noticed and thought maybe I just needed more note paper, so they bought me a big pack of note paper, with a note on top that read, "we still love you mommy". I never stopped writing those notes after that. I stuck them in lunch boxes, then backpacks as they graduated from lunch boxes, purses, pockets, wherever I founds a place to stick a note to them.
Sometimes we parents just need to know our children enjoy the things we do with them.
Peace!!

 

[Tinuviel]

You sound like you have an amazing family!!
Keep talking to him whether you think he really understands or not. He sounds like a good dad, but sometimes dads (or moms) may not realize how important something is to us. Keep talking respectfully to him until you find a way he understands. Parents like to learn their children enjoy the certain things they do, so reinforcing that you enjoy your family prayer time enough to want to make it a regular part of every day or every week may really please him.

When my kids were young, I would write a note and stick it in their lunch boxes. Usually the note just said "Remember..." which meant "remember that mommy loves you". After a while, they stopped writing on the back of the note, "I love you too mommy" and putting it back in the lunch box. I wondered if they really liked that, and after a while I slacked off on the notes. They noticed and thought maybe I just needed more note paper, so they bought me a big pack of note paper, with a note on top that read, "we still love you mommy". I never stopped writing those notes after that. I stuck them in lunch boxes, then backpacks as they graduated from lunch boxes, purses, pockets, wherever I founds a place to stick a note to them.
Sometimes we parents just need to know our children enjoy the things we do with them.
Peace!!

Thank you. It is good to get a perspective from the "other side" so to speak. I feel like I'm nagging if I mention something more than once, and the result is I probably don't make myself clear enough.

 

[Ariel82]

You sound like you have an amazing family!!
Keep talking to him whether you think he really understands or not. He sounds like a good dad, but sometimes dads (or moms) may not realize how important something is to us. Keep talking respectfully to him until you find a way he understands. Parents like to learn their children enjoy the certain things they do, so reinforcing that you enjoy your family prayer time enough to want to make it a regular part of every day or every week may really please him.

When my kids were young, I would write a note and stick it in their lunch boxes. Usually the note just said "Remember..." which meant "remember that mommy loves you". After a while, they stopped writing on the back of the note, "I love you too mommy" and putting it back in the lunch box. I wondered if they really liked that, and after a while I slacked off on the notes. They noticed and thought maybe I just needed more note paper, so they bought me a big pack of note paper, with a note on top that read, "we still love you mommy". I never stopped writing those notes after that. I stuck them in lunch boxes, then backpacks as they graduated from lunch boxes, purses, pockets, wherever I founds a place to stick a note to them.
Sometimes we parents just need to know our children enjoy the things we do with them.
Peace!!

That is so great! Gonna steal the idea.

 

[NewWine]

That is so great! Gonna steal the idea.

I write notes to them in the steamy mirrors after they take showers too....hub gets a kick out of the little notes....of course eventually I have to clean them all off the mirrors, but it's fun anyways.

 

[NewWine]

Thank you. It is good to get a perspective from the "other side" so to speak. I feel like I'm nagging if I mention something more than once, and the result is I probably don't make myself clear enough.

I understand that feeling too....especially when I had to ask a girl to clean their room for the 3rd time in a week. I think finding new ways to communicate with your family is the way to go if spoken words aren't helping you. Our middle daughter is a bit quiet and shier than the other two. So when she has something big to ask us, or speak to us concerning, she would write it all out, exactly like she wanted to say it, then come in and read it to us. She said that she could get all her words right, before she has to face us and get tongue tied.
Communication doesn't have to be verbal, just as long as it is kept going.

 

[Tinuviel]

Thanks everyone!