This year, I am failing forward with many things, including my plans for getting my middle and highschoolers into a daily spiritual reading and me into a habit of discussing their reading with them.
Part B, though - the part where I would chat with each of them after they finished each book. That's where the failure has happened.
Praise be to God, there have been few spontanous, organic, and fruitful chats that I appreciated. (These were about books in the C.S. Lewis boxed set, the Miracle of Father Kapaun, and Mother Teresa: Lessons of Love and Secrets of Sanctity all of which I recommend.) And, there have also been some more planned or prompted chats about other spiritual reads during minivan rides and walks.
However, I have not been able to keep up with all of the kids' spiritual reading, my own, and life in general - and the kids have not bubbled over with spontaneous sharing with some reads as they hae with others, so some of their spiritual reading selections have yet to be discussed.
That is where the failing forward comes in!
Upon entering the new year, as I thought about all this, I decided that we all might do well with a tool to help with future discussions. Thus, I made a simple set of Spiritual Reading Logs.
On these logs, we can record thoughts, ideas, and questions as well as think about if we'd recommend the spiritual books we dig into.
My hope is that with notes from these logs in hand, it will be easier to go back and chat about different reads even if I keep getting behind my kids with them (which seems inevitable since my children sometimes select things I have never read before and there are three of them, each reading separately, and only one of me trying to keep up.)
In case th ae logs might benefit you or your children, too, I am sharing them freely.
I hope you can use them and would love to hear what spiritual reads you and your children are diving into and what discussion points they bring up.
God bless!
In case th ae logs might benefit you or your children, too, I am sharing them freely.
I hope you can use them and would love to hear what spiritual reads you and your children are diving into and what discussion points they bring up.
God bless!