Sunday, July 27, 2008

Quiet Time


Life is full. Life is busy. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to make time for yourself. I can attest to this as a wife, mom, homeschooler and more. I have discovered one thing that makes a huge difference in how my day goes and that is personal quiet time. I rise early (before my children) so that I can get fully dressed, make a pot of coffee and have time to myself for bible study, prayer, and personal reflection. Nothing affects my mood more than this. When I oversleep or have some commitment that prevents me from doing this, my days do not go as well.

There is something special about offering the first moments of your day up to the Lord. Even Jesus did this.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

The goal for me is to set my eyes upon the Lord and then keep them there as the day progresses. I seek His wisdom through The Word, have a little chat with Him and then think through my day – what needs to get done and envisioning how it is going to happen.

As I said, this is a goal. It doesn’t always happen quite like this. Some days I oversleep or my children rise early and I have them as distractions, making quiet time more difficult. Some days I struggle to stay focused on my bible or my prayers. I have found that even some quiet time is better than none. Even if this is a struggle it is worth forming the habit of this discipline. Perhaps, mornings are not ideal. I have know other women who find that the time during afternoon naps or in the evening after the kids are in bed is the best time of the day to carve out this quiet time. For me, it has to be the morning. Once I have jumped into my day, my mind is too full of all that is going on and needs to get done that I have trouble quieting my spirit later in the day.

Whether you are single, married, working, have children, or not, you can really benefit from having a daily, personal quiet time. It is worth the struggle to develop the habit. You will not be sorry you did.

2 comments:

Thriftin and Craftin said...

So very true. Nothing like some quiet, solitary time. Thanks for the reminder!

anjanette said...

i needed that reminder this week.
this is a beautiful image.