The “quiet time”.
Masai Mara, Kenya
Oh you illusive concept. We have been told to have these quiet times from the early days of our baby Christian lives, with the vague direction to “spend time with God”. Our equation-loving minds quickly put two and two together and spit out the resulting calculation:
Wake up. Grab a cup of coffee (I like to brush my teeth before hand… I think the Lord is a supporter of dental hygiene). Listen to at least one Jesus Culture song- or two if you are feeling holy and/or sleep through the first one. Drink said cup of coffee and read a verse or two from the ol' b-i-b-l-e. Boom. Check mark.
Da Nang, Vietnam
Oh, I forgot to mention that in addition to still waking up, there is the process of planning out what you are going to eat for breakfast.
Wait. Who am I spending time with again? I mean, God was mentioned at least once in the song I was listening to…
SO, what's a good quiet time? Because clearly somewhere we are missing an important concept. What designates good time spent with God? What separates the days when you walk away with a spring in your step and new revelation on your heart to the times where you finally figure out the names of all 7 dwarfs* and how to recite the alphabet backwards.
*Bashful, Dock, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Happy…in case you were wondering.
Just so you know upfront… I have no idea. I am not going to wrap up this blog with a profound answer. For ONE, I still am clueless, and for TWO, I think we are all tired of fix-it solutions.
Soooooooo holy. In case you were wondering… (Bangkok, Thailand)
We sat in our Latvian fellowship on Friday listening to an Indian man speak in English about the importance of reading the word and prayer (talk about coming full circle). This man professed that the secret to good time with the Lord was (and I quote) “Go to bed early”.
Can I get an AAAMEN!
You see, he would go to bed early because he had an appointment with the Lord in the morning. Every day while he was in medical school, he would wake up at 5 am, wash his face and meet the Lord on the rooftop so that when the sun rose at 5:30, he could say to the sun “You found me worshiping the Lord this morning. I was worshiping before you”!
Pangkor, Malaysia
What's that song that Toby Keith sings?
You know talking about you makes me grin
But every now and then
I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about me
Did I just reference my Lord and Savior with a country singer? Yes. Yes I did. But sometimes I think that might be the song He sings to me in the wee hours of the morning as I plan out my life and let my mind run to distractions.
So Toby Keith and an Indian man. How do I wrap up this one? Ummm 6 degrees of separation? Kevin Bacon (whaaat)?
I want to know HIM. I am sick of talking about myself. Tired of trying to “self-diagnose” my spiritual life. Its time for it to be about HIM. Actually, it should have been about Him from the very beginning… as a matter of fact is WAS about Him in the very beginning.
The beach in Da Nang, Vietnam
I want to wake up and get my self ready for my Lord, not stumble out of bed to meet Him mid-yawn. I want to devour His words, not starve myself with one morsle at a time. I want to spend time with Him for Him and not for my benefit or to check off a list. I want to live in adoration of my King.
I'm done with “quiet times”. It's time for WAKE-UP-AND-LISTEN time. It's time for forget-yourself-for-a-minute time.
It's time to go. I have an appointment with my Beloved 🙂
