Family Devotional for Feb by Andy

Focus Verses: Matthew 13: 29-30 – ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together unit the harvest.'

Reflection: "What is God saying to you through these verses?"

Our first family devotion of 2021 was on the topic of Valentine’s Day and The Parable of Weeds Among the Wheat. On the surface it was not obvious for this parable to be associated with Valentine’s Day but the opening question about giving Valentine’s cards to everyone like in elementary or just one special one later in life was a good opening discussion starter with different opinions and insights being shared by the children. We took turns reading the bible verses and did some comprehension checks and some application questions and

dialogue. The message that God first loved us and God sent Jesus and sent good and bad seed for us to learn was received well by the family and some new insights were shared. The importance of waiting and seeing and allowing the Lord to take action was the key lesson and something that could be put into practice in our daily lives.

Overall the devotion was a blessing and exceeded our expectations (albeit it was probably a low barrier at the beginning as I just wanted to share the word with the family and made it low pressure and relaxed). Praying for patience and understanding along with some preparation was the key to the successful devotion. Our family agreed to a time limit of 15 minutes with a simple format. We agreed that everyone would share at least 1-2 points but that was soon exceeded as the kids reacted to each other’s inputs. I did have to hold back on interjecting and wisely let them share while keeping track of time. We look forward to the next family devotion next month.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your wisdom and authority to remove weeds from our lives. Keep us from rushing into judgment, and guide us when we are set on declaring someone either an eternal enemy or eternal love. We ask for good health and excellent grades and blessed careers and patience. In Your name, Amen.