From Reluctant to Reverent: How Daily Prayer Changed Our Family's Life

One of the most significant habits we formed as a family was morning prayer. Note: It doesn't have to be morning prayer if that does not work for your family. It can be at lunch, after dinner, or before bed. Whatever works best for your family.

When I was a young homeschooling mom, I was trying to find a way to lead my kids in prayer in the morning. My husband, the good Anglican priest that he is, suggested doing morning prayer and I was like, “Uhhhh, no”.

Morning prayer? Why on earth would I do morning prayer with kids? What could possibly be more boring? How could the Holy Spirit be involved in something like morning prayer? (Did I say all of this to my husband? Why, yes, yes, I did.)

My husband is a very gentle and patient man. He listened to my protestations and assured me that he heard me. But then, as he was walking out of the room he dropped this bomb, “I grew up in a school where we did morning prayer every day. Do you know what it is like for a little boy’s heart to hear and to recite these words every day, 'the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting and his faithfulness endures from age to age' or 'for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.'"

I started morning prayer with the kids the next day.

Starting the day off with morning prayer (or ending it with evening prayer), set our hearts and minds on God's goodness and faithfulness. There is something so powerful that happens when we set a rhythm of daily prayer and we pray the same thing together. It reminds us of who we are in God, it renews us and it unifies us, as a family, in our love and service to God.

And if you are worried about