Psalms for my Day {Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of Psalms for my Day through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

About Psalms for my Day

Psalms for my Day from Christian Focus Publications is a beautiful devotional for children. It takes the heft of the Psalms and breaks it down to a level that children can absorb easily.

The book itself is a well-crafted hardback book with a smooth coated cover. The inside pages are top quality and have held up well even with my busy boys. I was most impressed with the beautiful, colorful images by Catherine Pape. She has truly captured the beauty and whimsy of God’s earth.

The book is written on two reading levels, a “Read to Me” option for younger children and a “Read Myself” option for older children. I was thrilled to find a third option happened in our home- a “Read to my little brother” option. It was truly endearing to see the two of them curled up in the chair reading in the mornings.

Each Devotional in the book is broken into three parts:

Selected reading from Psalms
Short devotional that explains the selected reading in easy to understand language
Guided prayer time

Selected Reading

Each day a selection from the Psalms is chosen as the daily reading. These are shorter selections, usually between 4 and 8 verses. Just the right amount for my busy boys.

One unusual aspect of these readings is the translation of the Bible that was chosen. Alec Motyer, a Bible scholar, created this new translation by going back to the original Hebrew words and studying what they really mean. He then used that understanding to reword the scripture to reflect a more accurate wording.

This translation is a little hard to get used to at first. It can be wordy and a bit difficult to understand, especially for my boys. I did find, however, that hearing familiar scripture differently caused me to rethink what the words were actually saying. It was something that I wasn’t expecting to happen, but I did enjoy it.

Short Devotional

After the selected reading from Psalms, Carine MacKenzie does a beautiful job of breaking down the selection into a short, but powerful devotional. She has a unique approach to each devotional that allows children to apply the information to their little lives.

I was really impressed with the way this devotional did not shy away from Psalms with heavier messages. The devotional that accompanies these Psalm readings are so good at tackling the harder concepts and bringing them back to God’s amazing love for us.

Guided Prayer Time

After each short devotional, there is a very short guided prayer for the children to pray. These prayers are usually just one sentence, but it touches on the concepts for the day and wraps up the daily devotion in a beautifully simple way.

After reading the prayer that was written, my boys often would ask the Lord a question that was formed in their minds during the devotional. This gave me a chance to expound on what we read and dive a bit deeper into things they were questioning.

Glossary

At the very end of the book is a short glossary that lists words that may not be as familiar to children. It gives a super short definition, but just enough for the reader to fully understand the word in the passage they were reading. We found this to be a really helpful tool as we went through this book.

Our Thoughts

I think this book is a great addition to any family devotional time. The daily readings are short enough to keep the attention of smaller children, but in-depth enough to challenge older children as well.

I loved the construction of this book. It has held up well to use and I feel sure it will be a staple for us for many years to come. The pictures are gorgeous and really make it enjoyable to spend time reading.

Throughout the book, there are short quotes from Alec Motyer that are such sweet additions. The richness of his understanding of the Lord and His love for us shines through his words and brings a beautiful peace in areas that may be harder to comprehend for younger minds. We really enjoyed these sprinkled throughout the book.

Our only real struggle with the book was in the translation that was chosen. I actually enjoyed the change, but there were times that the boys had a hard time with the wording and I think, in some instances, it took away from the reading.

On the other hand, I did take those opportunities to read the same passage out of a different translation and they were able to grasp what was being read. In this way, I feel that the somewhat challenging language might have been a blessing in disguise. The boys were able to hear the passage from several translations and compare them, which might not have happened otherwise.