My quiet times have certainly changed over the last few months with going back to work. I used to cherish the times the kids went down for naps for obvious reasons, but I would mainly use that time to stretch out and just have me and God time. It was quiet, middle of the day, and it was such a fabulous recharge. Since my fourth graders don't take naps, ha ha!, I've had to be creative in finding time.

I think this is a subject many people struggle with. So often our lives are filled up with an insane amount of activities and responsibilities, and it's hard to get a schedule down. Hey, that's just life. Most people I talk to really love having a quiet time and want the time. It's not that they are neglecting their relationship with God, it's just hard to make the time. I think a lot of people, epecially moms, feel like a quiet time is "Me" time and feel guilty taking it. A quiet time is like anything else, if you want to do it and it's important to you, you just have to make yourself carve out the time. Easier said than done, eh?

SO MANY people feel so guilty when they miss a quiet time or even a couple of weeks of quiet times that they just give up. Many of us look at quiet times with a diet mentality. Well, I'm on a diet, I've been doing good, I can see improvements, OH! I blew it tonight at that party (or the whole month of December)... Oh well, I just can't do this, it's too hard to lose weight. Ever feel like that about something? Add feeling like God is mad at you or you're not eligible for the holiest of holies club at church and people treat quiet times the same way.

God is not up in heaven keeping a tally sheet of our quiet times. It's not a sin to miss one, and it's not something we should feel guilty about. HOWEVER (did you sense that coming), a quiet time is something we should strive to do. It's like any command in the Bible, take tithing for instance. God is not going to strike us with lightning for not tithing, but when we do tithe, we have an even closer fellowship with God. That closer fellowship is a blessing in and of itself. Quiet times are not so much for God, although he does crave fellowship with us. But, they are for ourselves because we benefit the most from having a quiet time with God and basking in his love and presence for a specific time each day.

The other thing people get hung up on is time of day. A quiet time is not "holier" in the morning. There are benefits to starting your day off in the right mentality and right frame of mind, but talking to God at night and analyzing your day's actions and words can be just as beneficial. I've talked to many people that once they missed their quiet time in the morning just decided they'd missed it and would try it again the next morning. That successful morning sometimes never comes - Satan is good at that! The best key I found when I was struggling with starting a regular quiet time was committing that I would NOT go to bed until I had my quiet time. If I had it in the morning, great; if at lunch, great; but if I hadn't finished it by that evening, I would not go to bed until I had completed it. Some people say they are too tired to do it at night. I agree that sometimes this is true. But, I've overcome this by praying through those times and just deciding to at least read something. Sometimes I'll just read a few verses and pray through those before I go to bed. God will give you that extra bit of energy if you pray for it. This strategy has worked for me through several periods in my life. Anytime that I am struggling with getting them done, I try to start this process and am usually able to get back on track.

So, what qualifies as a quiet time? I've had many different phases in my life.

I've had phases where my quiet times consisted of 15-30 minutes of reading a devotional book, journaling, and praying at various times of the day. My favorite book was a devotional entitled "Women of the Bible" where I just studied a different woman each week. There were lots of insights God taught me. I "happened" to study Hannah as I was struggling with not being able to get pregnant and God taught me to be satisfied with what I have when I have it. Most recently, I've really enjoyed "Voices of the Faithful". God has really used that with me this year. I received it as a birthday present last year and started it in January. The devotionals lined up almost perfectly with my struggles that I went through at the beginning of the year. My jaw would almost drop open at what I was reading.

I've had great times in my life where I've taken the kids' whole nap time to just sit and do a big long study for an hour or two at a time and then do a more inspirational quiet time at night - two a day! Earlier this year I was doing Disciple's Prayer Life (just at my own pace) and then reading through the Bible at night with journaling.

And, then there have been other times where I have to take what I can get when I can get it. Both times that the kids were small babies and my physical NEED was to take a nap during any small moment, I would have to just read a verse here and there to meditate on or when I had a few minutes to think (clearly or not), I would meditate and pray on whatever the sermon had been about that week. Sometimes my quiet time was as I was nursing or rocking one of them to sleep just singing praise songs to God and praying through the words I was singing. Just a moment here and there where I was completely yielded to God. Could I live on that forever? No, but it was better than nothing at the time.

Lately, my quiet times have been either something inspiring in a song or a verse read as I listen to christian radio on the way to school. I've prayed a lot more in the car than I have in past years. That's been a neat thing. In the past, my quiet times have been more reading and learning and listening and not as much me talking necessarily. Now, I am praying more where I'm talking, and I feel my intercessory prayer has grown more. My input has been less though. I was getting the Word on the Way devotionals at school for a while, but those just randomly stopped coming recently. It's hard to get that input at times!

Just the other day, I was flipping through stations on the way to work and heard just a brief 10 seconds or so of a random radio station. It was one I haven't heard before and it faded out not to be found again before I could listen to the rest of what the guy was saying. He was talking about how years ago, using welfare was really looked down upon. He lived with his grandparents and needed glasses. Someone had suggested they go to get free glasses, but his grandparents refused. They saved and scraped together the money to buy the glasses eventually. He talked about how people in those days, not even very long ago, really depended on God to get them the things they need. Their prayer life and faith was a lot stronger because there was no instant gratification. I told Jason that I guess if one of the kids needed glasses and we couldn't afford them that we would certainly accept free ones or just put it on credit to pay it off a little at a time, and we wouldn't think a think about it. In a sense, I think someone providing them for free would seem like God's provision to me. But, I really prayed that day about relying on God more. Our society is so instant gratification focused! That's interesting to compare our faith with those that are older and lived during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It gives new meaning to the mention of God in our pledge and on our money because that's what this country was founded upon. Just an interesting way that God touched my heart...

Now that I've gotten into the routine of school, quiet times are getting a little easier. I'm hoping to get more regular at the start of the new school year. For a while, I just honestly wasn't doing them at all. I really missed that fellowship though. I'm hoping over winter break to get some long periods of time where I can really dive in to study God's word. Oh, I crave it!!!

Anybody else have creative ideas to offer?? Good devotional books to recommend?