Family Time

If you're finding that family time is disappearing under the weight of busy schedules, consider establishing a dedicated 'family night' each week. Pick a consistent night where everyone agrees to put away their devices and engage in activities together—whether it's game night, movie night, or cooking a family meal. This intentional time fosters connection and allows for open discussions about everyone's week. You might find that this becomes a cherished tradition, helping everyone re-center their priorities around family.

As a teenager, school and social commitments can leave little time for family. To combat this, propose a 'dinner together' challenge to your family a few times a week. Set a specific time to eat together, where phones are off-limits, and each family member can share highlights from their day. Use this time to practice gratitude and talk about faith—maybe sharing a verse that resonates with you. This small commitment can significantly enhance your family relationships and strengthen your support system.

In a fast-paced work environment, it's easy to neglect family connections. Create a 'work-life balance' plan by setting boundaries around your work hours. For example, decide to leave work at a specific time each day to ensure you're spending quality time with your family afterward. You can even establish a check-in routine via text during the day to share moments of encouragement or prayer requests. This proactive approach helps remind you that family should be a priority, even amid demanding work responsibilities.

When you're out with friends or in public settings, it can be tempting to overlook your family. Challenge yourself to include your family in your social life occasionally. For instance, invite your parents or siblings to join in on a public event, like attending a concert or community festival. This can foster a sense of togetherness and allow your friends to see the positive influence of your family life. It also creates opportunities for meaningful conversations about faith in a relaxed setting.

When you're engaged in community activities, it's crucial to remember the importance of family. As you volunteer or participate in local events, consider inviting your family to join you. Whether it’s a community service event or a church outing, turning these activities into a family mission can deepen bonds and create shared memories. Encourage discussion afterward about what everyone learned or experienced, ensuring your communal activities also reflect and reinforce your family's values and faith.

Let family worship be performed consistently and at a time when it is most likely for the family to be free of interruptions.

Richard Baxter (Puritan Divine)

We are part of the family of God, and the family attorney is the Holy Spirit Himself. He is always present to come alongside us and help in times of troubles.

R. C. Sproul

Enjoy one another and take the time to enjoy family life together. Quality time is no substitute for quantity time. Quantity time is quality time.

Billy Graham

I believe the family was established long before the church, and my duty is to my family first. I am not to neglect my family.

Dwight Lyman Moody (Evangelist)

I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times. Those who use [them] in their families or classes must labor to explain the sense; but the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be understood better as years pass.

Charles Spurgeon

Believe it or not, once upon a time all members of the family had breakfast together.

Anonymous

He could have said it to avoid a stampeded on the house, to give the family time to feed the girl and to celebrate and rejoice and give Him more time to instruct and teach.

John F. MacArthur

23  The me-ism of our times has taken a serious toll on the family. Charles Swindoll The Darkness and the Dawn (2001)

Chuck Swindoll

Let us make one point … that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile.… Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.

Blessed Mother Teresa (Nun and Founder of the Missionaries of Charity)

I believe the family was established long before the church, and my duty is to my family first.

Dwight Lyman Moody (Evangelist)

God does not deal with this family because they are consistently a cut above other families.

D. A. Carson

A person who commits himself or herself to Christ will develop a greater love for both neighbor and family, although at times loving and following Christ may be seen as renunciation, rejection, or hate if the family does not share the same commitment to Christ.

Robert H. Stein

The very water that threatened to kill Noah and his family was at the same time the means of their deliverance.

Karen H. Jobes

The family circle is the supreme conductor of Christianity.

Henry Drummond (Irvingite Leader)

Have you time enough to eat, to drink, to sleep, to talk unprofitably, it may be corruptly, in all sorts of unnecessary societies, but have not time to live unto God?

John Owen (Puritan Divine and Statesman)

Family life is a school for character.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

Whether we like it or not, a breakdown in home-life will eventually lead to a breakdown everywhere. This is, surely, the most menacing and dangerous aspect of the state of society at this present time. Once the family idea, the family unit, the family life is broken up—once that goes, soon you will have no other allegiance. It is the most serious thing of all. Life in the Spirit in Marriage Home and Work, 245

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

God’s heavenly family business is a template for how he relates to his earthly family.

Michael S. Heiser

Some families can trace their ancestry back three hundred years but can’t tell you where the children were last night. Nothing keeps a family together like having one car in the shop.

Anonymous

A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.

Chuck Swindoll

28  God’s desire is that there be a conscious, consistent transfer of God’s truth from the older to the younger in the family. Charles Swindoll Growing Wise in Family Life (1988)

Chuck Swindoll