On the night of December 1st, my family and I embarked on our month-long Advent journey. This is a tradition of family worship within our home that we all look forward to with great anticipation. To get the process started, we thought we had all our ducks in a row. We had our devotional guide and materials in hand, my wife was preparing the activity portion of our devotional, and I was preparing a few short words and questions related to Isaiah 9:6. We even had the candles perfectly situated! One thing we had not prepared for was Cherry Belle.

You see, Cherry Belle is our cute little dog. She’s almost two years old, adorable, and fairly calm and lazy most of the time. This might have been the reason we overlooked her in our advent preparation. With everything set up for a successful family devotional, I got my guitar out and we began singing a hymn together. Before I ended the first verse, my 9-year-old daughter had to stop Cherry from chewing on Christmas decorations. A few minutes later, we had to pause what we were doing to let the dog outside. A few minutes after that, Cherry found the hot chocolate mix we were going to use after family worship.

Fortunately, we got to her just in time to protect her from eating it and to protect our floor from a mess of chocolate powder. Unfortunately, this was yet another break in what was supposed to be an uninterrupted time of warm connection and authentic worship with my wife and kids. We wrapped up our time together, had hot chocolate with marshmallows, and then sent the kids to bed. Afterward, my wife and I were laughing about the whole experience, and it got me thinking about what I could learn from it. Here are four truths I was reminded of because of this cartoonish advent session:

1. Perfection is impossible, so don’t expect it! Though I would never have expected perfection or a seamless session of family worship, this was a great reminder to expect things not to go the way you initially planned. You can actually find beauty and humor in some of the unplanned elements of your time of family worship.

2. Don’t take yourself too seriously. In our ministry (famtime.com), we hear stories all of the time about rigid parents who put too high of an insistence on reverence to the detriment of establishing a warm culture in their home. Believe me, I’m all for biblical reverence in the presence of our Holy God. However, sometimes, I think we can misapply what the word actually means. Kids will wiggle, dogs will derail even the most thoughtful of questions, arguments will happen, lyrics will be forgotten, and so much more. Kids (and spouses) need to see that you are not perfect and that you can laugh at yourself. We need to be willing to take a deep breath and have fun even if it means a Bible lesson doesn’t go exactly as planned.

3. Sometimes, the unexpected provides the best memories. My family loves to laugh and act silly. Not always, but quite often! Though Cherry Belle was frustrating us, the situation also made us laugh and I’m almost certain will result in a core memory for my daughters. I’m a big advocate of pursuing warmth as a key feature of any home discipleship effort. Cherry unintentionally helped us laugh and didn’t totally derail the experience. God was honored and worshiped, and our family had the privilege of learning more about Him in the process. Nothing, even a cute dog, can ever stop the Lord’s will!

4. Don’t give up. Frustration or “failure” can easily stop parents in their tracks. As silly as it sounds, I could’ve let my frustration with the dog cause me to say, “It just doesn’t work for our family. Our dog is too distracting!” There are many different tools to use in home discipleship, and all of them should be tailored to your environment. Having said that, once you find a rhythm & resource that works for your family, don’t quit and stay on your toes. Obstacles will come. Some will be small, and some will seem so large that they seem insurmountable. As you grow alongside your family, look toward the long haul and pray to God for perseverance. You can do this with the Lord’s help!

I hope that in some way, my silly dog story has encouraged you toward intentionality and perseverance in home discipleship. You never know what God will use to draw you and your family closer to Himself. I pray that this holiday season and the upcoming year are filled with the best kind of unexpected surprises that draw your family closer together and closer to God.

Frank Trimble (D.Ed.Min, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Executive
Director of Family Time Training in Littleton, CO (famtime.com) and a Co-Youth Director
at Calvary Englewood (englewood.thecalvary.org). His desire is to see home discipleship
become the norm, rather than the exception, in the lives of believers all over the world. His
primary ministry is to his wife, Kristin, and their two wonderful daughters, Ava and
Olivia.