HOLDING FAMILY DEVOTIONALS: NO MORE BARKIN’ AT A KNOT

I have never truly understood an old western showdown.  Television always would show two villains standing in the wide-open dusty street outside of an old saloon.  Off in the distance, you would see a sheriff wearing a tin star, cowboy hats, spurs, and with his six-shooter attached to his side. Running onto the scene would be someone with a stick who would draw a line in the sand defining the two opposing sides. The two cowboys then with their “5 beans in the wheel” (bullets in the chambers) would stare each other down waiting for the other to flinch in lifting his gun to shoot. With cowboys, there is no small talk; “no barkin at a knot” of nonsense as we do today. Life was serious and to the point. 

A COWBOY CODE

Before the wild west was settled and barbed wire closed off the range, the code of the cowboy was to “know where to draw the line at.” Likewise, my mother, one of faith and diligence understood what it meant by drawing this line too in the sand ― by blazing a path in homeschooling when it was not a popular thing in the early ’80s, declaring education was now to be taught under her apron strings. She was courageous and as a mother was determined our family would know God’s word and who He was as she would gather us ten children to read scriptures for our morning devotionals. She took a “hard row to hoe” and fought against culture. We memorized verses, sang songs, and together we prayed. She took the crucial charge of teaching His word seriously. 

Because of these family devotionals as a child, I too have carried this tradition into my own home using it as a line of defense. It wasn’t always easy as we fought through early morning attitudes and evening schedules. Devotionals eventually became just a habit with no thought and something quick to check off the list in the hope it was reaching my family somehow.  However, no matter my efforts with my children, I became what is known as a “slang-whanger” in the cowboy talk ―just another noisy talker. 

SHAKING IN MY BOOTS

As time went on and years passed, I became more and more concerned with what my children were being taught in neighborhoods or even through our church culture. It was becoming evident that the line I too had drawn was long gone due to the erosive effects of the hard windstorms that blew. I knew it was just a matter of time before the family went down. Apathy had found itself among us, and cute songs, a few verses, and memorizations just did not cut it any longer.  

I tried to increase our family devotionals in length and material, thinking this would help. We not only read the scriptures, but I added ‘For the Strength of Youth’, the Constitution, and stories of America with heroes that fought the good fight, hoping to win the hearts of my children. I did not want to lose them because we were unprepared or ignorant, so I crammed more down them out of fear. However, this did not seem to be working, and as a cowboy says “you must acknowledge the corn” (truth) that I knew not how to combat against the enemy ― one who did not play fair nor follow rules. The opposition had my home exactly where he wanted it, and I was left literally “shaking in my boots.”

A HAIR IN THE BUTTER

When I learned about how the culture and some of our traditions were destroying my family, I knew I needed to do something different in that allotted morning time to re-educate my family. It was going to be like “hair in the butter” to make some of these changes to our traditions―even something as simple as a morning devotional. It had become evident that I had made the mistake of presenting the Gospel in an abstract form. It was not real to them, and the power of scriptures had become lost. As was taught to me, children want to know the truth; things as they really were, really are, and really will be.  They want something to sink their teeth into.  They want truth that applies to the real world. 

It was time for me to stop talking about the gospel and how wonderful it was, and start applying the gospel. I needed to engage them and awake them from the deep sleep that had plagued them. I needed the battle of good and evil broken down so simple for myself and my children that agency could be used correctly. We needed to understand there was no neutrality any longer in our home, and how God despises those who are lukewarm in His Gospel. 

‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16

TALKING A DONKEY’S HIND LEG OFF

So began our new devotionals. I decided that there would be NO more mornings where we just “talked a donkey’s hind leg off”–action was now needed. This was the day I introduced to them the real battle that they were facing. No more warm fuzzies for devotionals―we were going to actively engage in defending the Restoration. We still sang a song and held prayer, but now we would pick a ‘selected battle’ that was currently happening in our own lives and begin educating ourselves.

Here is where we began:

• We began by studying Joseph Smith and his teachings, and what has been revealed on the subject. 
• We learned about our sacred lineage. How we are descendants—we are Israelites. The covenants they lived and kept, and the blessings that were promised them upon righteousness― are ours as well. 
• We studied the Book of Mormon looking for the topic that we were studying.
• We used movies to see real people living what we were being asked to change: Lives of total consecration and service, charity, sacrificial love, forgiveness, purity, etc.
• We studied the Reformation to see how others stood for these beliefs and what true Christianity looked like. 
• As a family, we got involved in the cause to defend the teachings we were learning and to take the Gospel to every nation. We became a project-based home, now working to help others. 
• We began practicing defending our beliefs at night with Dad in a debate, or at the dinner table, or in the car. We wrote reviews on books and movies we watched, sharing our testimonies with others.

As we watched videos, read articles together, and searched the teachings of the prophets we awoke to how clearly we had been lulled to sleep by the enemy and how we were in many areas compromised as a family with our thinking and standards. No longer did we justify lower laws or follow that which was popular; but we took those higher teachings and applied them to our lives―purging movies, music, junk food, and replacing them with the good. Devotionals became a chance where one now had to choose what side of the fence they were on―it was no longer me spoon-feeding them warm cozy stories while they hid under a blanket. Now their faith was being called into action: to stand up and enlist!

HANG UP ONE’S FIDDLE

When the real history of mankind is disclosed, it will NOT be gunfire that won the battles, but diligent parents who aligned their homes to teach God’s word to their families correctly, leading their children to act, and not be acted upon―never “hanging up one’s fiddle” and quitting, even when it is hard or unpopular. The line in the sand must be drawn strongly, and all must know clearly what each side represents, and then DO something about it. Parents are key players, as righteous traditions begin at home. While we can teach liberty and memorize the Articles of Faith, or read selected passages, the real teaching begins when parents teach God’s laws and show the counterfeits exposing the enemy at his game and having their children choose whom they will serve by making cultural choices NOW. Those children can then navigate correctly the showdown Satan has cleverly set up for their destruction.

When agency is used correctly, children are converted. I witnessed this as morning devotionals turned from sleepy time sitting on a heater vent into powerful discussions with my growing children. I saw hearts change from a hard heart to a soft broken heart, and I saw children purge those things the world esteemed as good but God called an abomination. Devotionals took on a whole new meaning as we parents became more and more devoted ourselves to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We began searching for more counterfeits during these times together in re-educating ourselves.

Reconstructing our family devotionals became a time to not only learn the Gospel, but to apply it. This made all the difference within the 4 walls of my home, just like what my mother taught me. I too wish to arm my posterity, giving them the confidence to take on the opposition through family devotionals, that they can teach their children how to stand when the crossfires of culture hit.