What does your family’s calendar look like at this time of year? Perhaps Christmas is looming a little too close for comfort, and the weekends are beginning to fill up with end-of-year events.
In a busy world, it sometimes feels as if others are setting the rhythm for our family’s life. Whether it’s our children’s school, their sporting and dance groups or even just the commercial calendar at the shops, we can feel like we’re just running from one event to the next. And when it comes to Christmas, these ‘traditions’ we get caught up in do not necessarily help our family to focus on Jesus, the reason for the (silly) season.
As Christian families, we want to be intentional about how we use our time—our days, weeks, months and years—because the things that we prioritise and regularly repeat become the things that shape and define our family.
The latest episode of our Timeless Parenting podcast is an opportunity for you to slow down and give some thought to your family’s rhythms and traditions. Join us for a warm and encouraging conversation with Mary O’Brien, a great-grandmother and former missionary, and Jocelyn Loane, a mother of five children, aged 8 to 18, about the traditions that have shaped their families in the Christian faith.
We talk about what the Bible says about family traditions, how repeated rhythms can benefit our families and how we can keep a healthy focus on relationships rather than ‘rules’ amidst it all. You’ll be inspired by their ideas and examples of the kind of daily, weekly and yearly rhythms that can draw our Christian families closer to God and closer to each other.
Listen, be encouraged and share it with your friends!
If you would like to think more about this topic, have a look at Wendy Lin’s chapter of Parenting in God’s Family: ‘Setting rhythms that point our family to Jesus’.
Youthworks Media has also just released a digital Advent resource for families:
An Arrival to Celebrate: Fun Advent devotions for busy families unwrapping God’s big Bible plan
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Timeless Parenting is brought to you by Growing Faith, a ministry of Youthworks Media, and Mothers Union Sydney.
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