I have always loved the idea of getting up in the morning and having my quiet time with God. I love this idea in the same way I love the idea of keeping my laundry caught up, learning to cook, and stopping my wild addiction to Dr. Pepper. In other words, I love this idea very much, but so far I have been unsuccessful at it. Of course, my quiet time with God is far more important than any of my other goals, and I’ve been praying that God would give me the energy and desire to get out of bed early and meet with Him.
He took a different path.
Instead of giving me the energy and desire, he passed that right along to Callie Grace. Since moving to her big girl bed, she’s now up in the middle of the night. And by middle of the night I mean 5:30am. And so of course, so am I. At that time of the morning, Callie is content to sit and watch her Bible Songs video, or Dora, and so I’m left to my own devices. It took me about 3 mornings of this to realize that, as usual, I was an idiot and missed the opportunity that was dropped in my lap. So now, as Callie is quietly sitting in the living room, I sit at the dining room table and meet with God.
I would be lying if I said this gets easier every day. In fact, it does not. But that really signifies nothing, does it? It’s a sacrifice for me, sure, but I’m fairly certain that sacrifices are required of us, and also, the benefits far outweigh the cost.
Yesterday I was reading a book on managing your home, and I came across this sentence: “If you cannot schedule quiet time with the Lord and keep it daily, you will not be able to schedule the rest of the day.” Talk about a slap in the face! As I thought about it, I realized how absolutely true that was. I can say that this is especially true for stay at home moms.
I have argued with God that I would just fit in my quiet time with Him during the day when the kids napped, or after they went to bed. Isn’t it a foolish thing to argue with God? My devotions were hit and miss, at best, and I cannot afford to have a on-again, off-again relationship with God. I’m studying the life of David in my Bible study, and it starts out with the story of Saul. What is so interesting to me about Saul is that he would partially obey God. This hit me hard, because I started thinking about how often I can say the same thing about myself. And Saul had good excuses for the times he didn’t fully obey God, as do I. But excuses don’t draw you nearer to God, they don’t make you a faithful servant, and they almost always are an attempt to get away with being lazy or self-centered.
Now, I’m not saying that other people cannot be faithful at having their devotions in the middle of the day or at night, but 33 years have proved that I cannot. So, if anyone out there would like to join me at 5:30am to have their quiet time with God, just let me know. I’d be more than happy to call you and spread the cheer.
My wake-up call was when I went back to work. I started waking Micah up at 5:30am to feed him before I went to school. After feeding him, I would take a shower, get ready and eat my breakfast. My desire was to have a daily devotional… and I had one of those AHA! moments… Why can’t I read my devotional while I am eating breakfast? So now, I read my Bible while eating breakfast… and I pray while in the shower… and I pray while making my coffee in the morning… and I listen to the Christian music station on the way to work. I try to make my whole morning about my conversation with God … and what I need from Him that day or what He needs from me that day. It really does help with my temperment and how I manage my day. On days that I skip worship, my attitude and my schedule goes to POT!