Adventure Together - A 5-Day Devotional Sample

Adventure Together Day 4: 

When you start reading aloud to your child, where does your child sit? In your lap, right? Then, as your kids grow, they snuggle up next to you on the couch or in bed. So right from the start you are creating all kinds of beautiful, warm, comforting connections as you read books together. You are telling them, “This is where we connect. This is where I spend time with you. This is where we laugh together and where I don’t look at my phone. This is where we learn new things and go on adventures. This is our place.” From the time our kids are very young, reading brings closeness and connectedness.

Once you’ve established reading books together as a special way to connect, a world of adventuring together awaits. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis said, “There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” And it’s so true. You can introduce your children to new places, new people, new ideas, and new experiences through books. There is no way I can take my kids all the places in the world I want to. Or experience all the things with them I’d like to. But through books, we can do an awful lot of adventuring together. Books help us make the world bigger for our kids. . . .

These precious times together are the making of relationship: we laugh, sometimes cry, and we talk. We have beautiful conversations about whatever story we are listening to. We all relate to the book in different ways, but we experience it together and each share what it brings up in us. We talk in the language of the books we’ve read. I often hear my kids say things like: “You know that part in The Hobbit . . .” or, “It’s like in Caddie Woodlawn when . . .” The books we read together create cherished memories just as family vacations and adventures do. The books we’ve read together are some of our favorite adventures.

Reading and listening to books together has become one of the most powerful tools for connecting our family. Remember, you don’t have to go on fancy vacations or grand adventures to create memories with your family. Making memories and creating connections can be as simple as popping a bowl of popcorn and settling down with a fabulous audiobook. You’ll laugh together, wonder together, and if you’re like my family, cry together.