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One of the things we are encouraged to do in our Church is pray together as families and study the scriptures together, daily.  Praying has been a natural and routine part of our family for a long time.  But scripture study seems to come and go, ebb and flow and never be as consistent as we would like.  And at times not be happening at all.  It’s been hard for us to find a set-time, create a habit of it and stick to it.  But we were tired of feeling like we had failed in this area…there are no excuses when something is important.  You either do it or you don’t.  And we were not doing it…  But we believe in it…we believe that there is power in the words of God.  That they testify of Jesus Christ and teach principles and doctrines that will help anchor us in a shaky and sometimes scary world.  We believe that they bring peace and comfort and that they invite the Holy Ghost.  And that Spirit will help us in raising our children.  So it was time that we stop wishing for it and just do it.

I’ve read that it takes 28 days to create a habit…one month.  So in February we started our Smith Family devotionals.  Every morning at 7:00 (the kids have an alarm) the big boys meet us in our bed.  We sing a hymn.  I choose a hymn for the week.  And every morning we sing it.  This way we are learning the hymn well and it sets a nice tone for our time together.  Then we read from the scriptures.  This year we are reading from the Book of Mormon.  But we hope to someday start the Old Testament, New Testament and Doctrine and Covenants.  Then we end with our family prayer.

We were very successful in February.  And I can honestly say that it feels like habit now.  And it’s been a blessing to us and to our children.  Let’s hope we can keep it up.