Throughout the Christmas season, we celebrate that Jesus came to earth and shared in our humanity. Jesus demonstrated and taught us to be like him. Romans 8:29 tells us: 

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

God calls us to conform to his image. This calling means that as parents, we commit to growing personally into Christ's image and loving our children into his image as well. Structure and repetition provide a solid foundation for children to grow in this way.

By incorporating practical, hands-on spiritual rhythms into our family routines, we can order our days to reflect Jesus’ life on earth. Spiritual rhythms such as worship, prayer, rest, and service can develop spiritually healthy parents and children who are better equipped to live out their love for God. How can we implement these rhythms into our families’ everyday lives?

Worship rhythms:

Be involved in church

Actively attend and be involved in your local church. The church is the body of Christ, and loving God means loving his church. Enjoy church and serve the body of Christ joyfully. Let your children see your commitment to serving in whatever ways God has gifted you. As your children get older, find ways for them to serve as well.

Family worship service

Have a family praise service once a month. Sing fun praise songs geared toward children and some of your favorite praise songs or hymns that you enjoy as an adult. Practice adoring God together as a family. Let your kids dance to the songs and do actions that reinforce the meaning of the words. Beyond music, there are many ways to adore God. Draw a picture together as a family that depicts God’s character. Create a drama together about your favorite things about God. Involve your children in the creative process.

Reflect on God’s attributes

Teach your children about specific attributes of God’s character. Throughout your week with your children, examine your family’s circumstances and how you see God at work in those circumstances. Call out the attributes of God he has displayed to all of you. You can list God’s character attributes you see displayed each month or year. Review the list at the end of the year and praise the Lord together!

Find God’s attributes in a kid-friendly way here.

Prayer rhythms:

Prayer as a way of life

Consistently pray with your children. In addition to praying for your meal, regularly pray in the car or take short prayer walks together on your way to the park or the store. Look for things or people to pray for, and ask your children what they want to pray for.

Prayer for others

Intentionally pray for the needs of people beyond your family. Adopt a neighborhood family to pray for, a child’s friend (or enemy) at school, or a particular people group that lives in your city or across the world.

Prayer for missionaries and the nations

Pray for missionaries serving in other countries. Email those missionaries and ask how your family can pray for them. As a family, adopt an unreached people group. Do some research about that people group. Find out where they live, what they like to eat, their religion, and what they believe about eternity. Cook a meal from their country. Try playing a game that they like to play. As you learn about them, commit to praying for them during your family prayer times. 

Learn more about unreached people groups here.

Rest rhythms:

Wonder wander

Discover God in nature. Spend time outdoors together as a family. Take a nature walk or explore the outdoors in a park. Look for the delicate intricacies of God’s creation, such as a caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly, or the special characteristics of insects. Observe different trees and leaves. Feel the differences and similarities of tree bark. Examine various flowers and colors. Teach your children to appreciate and enjoy God through nature.

Family fun night

Put your phones and devices away in a space where no one will access them for a designated time, even if there’s a phone call or message. Use this time together to play games, cook, watch a movie, or do an art activity together. Enjoy being together and doing your favorite things with each other.

Service rhythms:

As a family, pray through these questions and commit to serving as God leads you on a regular basis (monthly, annually, etc):

• How can you serve your family, church, neighbors, and school friends?
• How can you serve people in your neighborhood and city who are different from you, such as immigrants or refugees?
• How can you serve the missionaries that you know? 

Make your family's spiritual rhythms fun, creative, and joyful. By keeping your children involved and valuing their participation, spiritual rhythms can become something they look forward to rather than a task to complete. Give them opportunities to lead as they grow and mature.

Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you decide what spiritual rhythms to practice each week, month, and year. Don’t try to do everything at once. Instead, think of each idea as spices for a soup. You can start with one spice, and as you get used to that spice, you can add another and then another. Take out the activities that don’t work well for your family. Go at your own pace and do what is best for your family, prioritizing your love for God and your worship of him. 

This Christmas, let’s not just celebrate the birth of Jesus but also allow God to transform your whole family into the image of Christ for his glory and a watching world to see.