In typical form, the kids and I were rushing around this morning to get out the door and to an appointment. We were even running significantly ahead of schedule and still fell victim to the “hurry-it-up” mentality.

As I grabbed our bags, my youngest child’s hand and scuttled all of us out the door, God stopped me in my tracks. I was stressed for no reason, Lauren was whining and dragging her feet and Jackson was complaining about something that happened earlier.

Suddenly, I knew what was wrong. We didn’t begin the day with our Savior.

For the past few weeks, the kids and I have started a morning devotion time right after breakfast, before everything starts moving fast. Though I had been reading my Bible and spending time with Jesus each morning, God showed me that my children needed that kind of start to the day as well. Since then, we have been going through a great age-appropriate devotion book, with a Bible verse, life application story and prayer guide. Inevitably, the application always has to do with what we are struggling with that day or what we need God’s strength to work on in our relationships and responsibilities. Go figure!

Today, I missed doing our devotion together. And as we were hurtling toward the car, the Holy Spirit convicted me before the garage door went up. I told the kids that we hadn’t gotten to the right start this morning and asked their forgiveness. Then, I requested that they come back inside so that we could read our devotion and pray before leaving. Without any fuss, both willingly and happily followed me, and we snuggled on the couch with our devotion book.

Jackson prayed for us as we finished our time together: “Dear Jesus, please help us to be kind, loving and respectful to each other and have a great day. Amen!”

God provided us plenty of time still to arrive to our appointment, early to boot! And, more importantly, we started the day fresh with Jesus.