Category — Spirituality

image by melanieburger

I had a revelation this morning.

One of my biggest struggles, since my oldest child gave up his morning nap, has been finding time for my morning “quiet time”. I’ve tried getting up extra early to spend time in quiet meditation, reading, and prayer, but with a baby who still wakes up a couple times a night, that hasn’t worked. I need my sleep. But I also need this time.

This morning I decided to take my coffee to a chair in the living room and sit for a while. I took out a simple devotional book and my Bible, and I read and prayed a little while Jackson and P played. Though I ended up reading sentences in between acting as a pit stop to two little “dinosaur cars” who were running around the couch, I still found the connection I needed.

Maybe I don’t need to save this time for when everyone is asleep. I can read while nursing a baby or watching little ones play. I can remember and meditate on a verse throughout the day. I can occasionally take the time to stop, breathe, and pray.

In this season of life when I’m “on call” 24/7, I might just need to take multitasking to my spiritual life as well.

And maybe my little ones will see their Mama taking this time out, notice the calm that follows, and remember it.

image by madalena-pestana

Resisting the urge to turn on the television after putting the kids to bed and waiting for Dustin to get home…

Putting down the novel and letting my mind be still for a while…

Folding laundry without music or TV to entertain my brain…just quiet…

Stopping myself from putting in several hold requests at the library after reading this post and this post (but writing the titles down to read at another time!)

Putting down the baby books and magazines…

Spending more time reflecting, praying, meditating on the Proverbs I’ve been reading instead of complaining about never having the time to do that.

Enjoying the little squirming arms and legs I feel moving inside me, and trying to wrap my mind around the fact that very soon another little life will be part of this family.

Right now my body is tired, and my mind is tired…yet I still find myself filling it with noise. I need the quiet and the stillness.

I crave the wisdom and peace that I know comes not from more reading but through a little more solitude.

These tiny snatches of time are often lost to us. What a pity! They can and should be redeemed. They are times for inner quiet, for reorienting our lives like a compass needle. They are little moments that help us to be genuinely present where we are.

Richard Foster
from Celebration of Discipline

What are ways that you find quiet in the midst of a busy day?