Family traditions bring families closer together, they
provide memories that last for generations to come, and can create a family
bond that strengthens over time. While
the first thought that often comes to mind when we speak of
traditions is Christmas, there are daily family traditions that you can create to strengthen
your family - no "Jingle Bells" required.
For many parents, sharing their faith with their children is
the most important part of raising children.
We can take our children to church, and we can pray at bedtime, but what
more can we do to share our faith as a family? How can we build on that faith
and help it grow? Why not create traditions that teach not only our children,
but ourselves as well, how to live that faith daily?
10
Faith Filled Family Traditions
1.
Create a family Prayer Jar.
Each day have the family members write down
their prayer requests and place them in the Prayer Jar. Every night after dinner, each person draws a
request from the jar and commits to praying for that person and their request
that night. The jar can be a simple
mason jar, or set aside one night to decorate a large jar with family photos,
scriptures, etc. The Prayer Jar not
only encourages prayer, it teaches empathy for others, and also gives an
opportunity for the family to get to know each other on a deeper level.
2. The
Grandma Prayer Chain.
Send Grandma a prayer request on a pretty
piece of paper and then mail it to her.
On the same paper, have Grandma write a short prayer for the child and
include a request of her own to mail back.
Continue this project weekly - sharing requests and prayers back and
forth. As the paper becomes full, tuck it into a page protector and start a new
sheet. Collect the pages in a journal.
Like the prayer jar, this can be a simple journal or one decorated with
pictures of the children and the grandparents, scriptures, and prayers. The journal will be a memory keeper for
years to come, and create a close relationship with family, no matter how far
away they are. For the more tech saavy
grandparents, you can do the prayer chain via email and print the letters on
fun stationary.
3. The
Love God's People Project
Sit down as a family and talk about how God
wants us to take care of each other and of His people. Then offer up a few options for a family
project that would serve others. Take a
family vote. If the family is interested
in more than one choice, rotate the ideas monthly. Some suggestions for projects include:
•
Adopting a local senior citizen. There
are many seniors who have no family to come visit, to bring hugs and smiles, to
send encouraging cards to. Adopt a
senior to pray for, to be there for, to love.
• Going
to a soup kitchen weekly and serving the homeless as a family. Even young kids
can help by serving rolls, carrying napkins, and wiping off tables.
• Adopt
a local family anonymously. Everyone can pitch in ideas of how to shower love
on the adopted family. Aside from
praying each day for this family, you can drop off care packages on their front
porch, send them cards, and even leave flowers to brighten their day.
4. The
Best. The Worst. The Prayers.
Each night at the table, go around the table
and give each person your undivided attention for a few minutes. Have each
person (family and guests!) share the
best thing that happened to them today, the worst thing that happened to them
today, and something they'd like to pray about.
Not only will you be sharing your
lives with each other, you will be
sharing your faith with the guests at your table and with your children.
5. Text
With Love
Come up with family acronyms that can be
texted, emailed, or even tweeted via direct message. Use these messages to convey prayer requests,
to say "Thinking of you.", or I love you. Some examples are:
ILUTP -
I Love you To Pieces (this one is this writer's own tradition - created by her
mother)
PP4M -
Please Pray For Me (let your kids and teens especially know they can ask for
this without you pushing for details)
AP4U -
Always Praying For You
JKILU -
Just Know I Love You
911P -
Emergency! Pray Right Now For Me!
JTOY
- Just Thinking Of You
6. Make a Blessings Chain
Everyone remembers the green and red chains
we made in kindergarten to count down the days until Christmas. Why not take a favorite holiday tradition and
twist it a little? This fun idea can be used for any upcoming holiday. On slips of construction paper write out
blessings and answered prayers to create a chain. Add to that chain every
chance you get and encourage family guests to add their own blessings and
answered prayers as well. On the big day
ask people to take apart the chain one link at a time and read aloud the note
written inside. Prayers are important,
but acknowledging answered prayers and blessings is equally important.
A fun variation to this is the Birthday
Chain - have family members come up with 30 things about the Birthday boy or
girl (even if that boy or girl is 35 or 75) to create a chain with. It can be things you love about him,
favorite memories of her, and short prayers for them to hold onto. These links can even be glued to scrapbook
pages to create a family heirloom to pass on.
7. The
Family Prayer Journal
Using any style journal or notebook, create
a family prayer journal. Keep the
journal in a designated spot that's easy
for family members to stop by and visit daily.
Have everyone write in the journal sometime before dinner time each
day. Make a rule that for every prayer
request you write for yourself , you must also write a request for someone
else. Each night, during or after
dinner, have someone read the requests for that day and ask someone else to pray aloud for the requests.
For
example:
Monday,
August 3
Mom - Please pray for healing for me, and for
me to be made whole again. I also lift
up Angie in prayer, let the baby be healthy and come quickly.
Dad - Please pray that I know how to best
handle a problem at work I'm having. I also lift up Grandma in prayer, let her
get better very soon and stay healthy.
8. Family Night
Designate a night devoted to family and make it
special. Family night can include board
games and movies of course, but you can make it so much more meaningful that
just those two elements. Some fun ideas
to add are:
• Include a
WWJD trophy awarded to the person
who went out of their way to show God's love this week - the trophy can be
passed around week after week.
• Have
a special plate set aside that is designated for the Star of the Week . Each week choose a different star so that
everyone has the chance to feel special.
The star gets to eat dinner on the special plate, is the one who picks
the movie to watch and the game to play. Alternately, the star's favorite
dessert can be served on the special plate.
During dinner have each person at the table tell a favorite thing about
the star of the week and why they are blessed to have the star in their lives
• Don't
play just traditional board games - visit your Christian bookstore as a family
and check out the selection of faith-filled games they offer. Set aside money
in your budget to buy one of these games per month until you have a collection
to choose from.
• Add
some hands-on fun with crafts and projects to make to give to others. Part of your family night can even be
anonymously delivering these gifts to neighbors and friends.
9.
Family Pen Pals
Contact your local church and get the
address of a missionary family from your town.
Create a pen pal relationship with
that family, exchanging letters, pictures, and even sending care packages. In your letters, ask about the country and
the religions practiced where the missionaries are so you can learn more as a
family. Add the missionaries to your
prayer journal, and make them part of your day to day lives. You can even build on this by checking out
books from the Library about the area the missionaries are living in, and even
try your hand at making some recipes from that country together.
10.
With Love, From Mom and Dad
Create a binder for each child in the family.
In the binder add some pocket pages to hold art, schoolwork, ticket stubs from
a family night out, and so on. More
importantly, add a section for letters to your children. Commit yourself to writing
a short letter to each child each week, even if only a couple paragraphs long. Write to them and tell them why you're proud
of them, what you love about them, about
what you're praying for them for. Don't
keep these binders a secret, or as a gift to give them once they're grown. Keep them where they can see them, where they
can read what you wrote whenever they need to.
Make one for your spouse, or significant other as well. To add to the book would take only moments
each week, but the benefit of it would last a lifetime.
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