We received a devotional in the mail from Christian Focus, and the artwork is just lovely! Psalms for my Day contains excerpts from the psalms in the Bible, along with a quick prayer and devotion for each. Interestingly, the text in the book does not come from one translation of the Bible, but from the late Alec Motyer's personal translation from the original Hebrew. Because of that, many of these psalms might seem new or unfamiliar to you or your child. If your child isn't used to thinking of God as "Yahweh" this could be particularly confusing! I think it's helpful to use it as a teaching moment, and perhaps compare the translation in the book to the translation in your own family Bible.
The illustrations really are lovely, and a style that I particularly enjoy. Each page continues with the same style, but with different illustrations that reflect the text of the psalms.
I think this is the type of book that would be good to discuss along with your child - it's intended to be read with 4-6-year-olds, or read independently by 7-11-year-olds. Just looking at the first page gave me some pause when I read the reflection, which reads, "God wants his people to be happy and blessed." To me, it seems a tad simplified, and worrisome theologically. Are we guaranteed happiness on Earth? Not exactly. The eventual goal is happiness in Heaven, so this is a reflection I discussed with my 10-year-old, who often has a tendency to get bogged down by individual events in life that take away from his personal happiness.
In between each section of psalms is a spread with quotations from Motyer's writings. Alec Motyer was an Anglican Scripture scholar, so I think Catholics can be assured that his theology isn't going to differ significantly from ours. Additionally, the devotions seem as though they would work for Protestants as well, and this could be a useful book for an ecumenical children's Bible study.
This would be a fun book to read as a family, discussing the translation of the psalm in Motyer's words, and comparing with the translation from your family Bible, then using the devotion and prayer as a springboard for discussion and family prayer. Quotations would work well for copywork or dictation for older students, and younger children will enjoy simply looking at the pictures and having the psalms read aloud to them.
Unfortunately the binding for our book is beginning to come loose from its glue in the first and last sections of the book, though the binding is sewn in as well. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but considering how heavily we use our books, I anticipate it would need to be repaired pretty soon in our house. But I do believe we are a little more rough on books than most families! It's definitely a habit we're attempting to better. The book has a sturdy hard cover, and a ribbon bookmark to help mark your place as you read.
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