MMH5 – My Top Five Enemies of Quiet Time With God
The Monday Morning High Five
Continuing our list of all things 5 to hopefully bring a smile to your Monday.
Maybe this is just me. Maybe I’m one of the few “practicing” Christians who struggle setting up and nailing down a regular “quiet time” with God routine. The term “quiet time” is such a Sunday School type phrase, but I have no other cool, adult name for it. Devos? “God/me time”? I don’t know. It’s basically that time where you read some scripture, pray, just you and God, without any distractions. You know, that thing that we’re supposed to do? Sounds easy, right? But it’s almost a daily struggle. Like exercising. I enjoy it when I do. I feel better, I am refreshed, but it’s not like it doesn’t take effort to get me off that couch.
Quiet time and I have a Ross and Rachel thing going on. We’re on again, off again. I’ll renew my contract with God saying that this time I’ll be more consistent, we’ll have longer prayer times, deeper meditation, etc.; next thing I know, I’m back at square one. So what brings me down? What are the enemies in my quest for quiet time? Here’s my top five:
1. The Snooze Button – Oh Snooze Button, how your promises of five more minutes of sleep are so easily stackable. Thanks to the powers of addition, those five more minutes can quickly escalate to fifteen then twenty. Next, I’m running out the door without a belt or cellphone because you made me late, Snooze Button. I love you, Snooze Button. I really do, but sometimes you’re just too giving.
photo by DrGBB
2. Counting Christian books as a quiet time alternative - I think that reading a good devotional book can be a great addition to your quiet time toolbox. However, if you’re reading The Chronicles of Narnia or watching Veggie Tales DVDs as your quiet time…well, those probably don’t count.
3. Other Christians who tell me how consistent and awesome their quiet time is - Some people are like the Cal Ripken Jr.’s of quiet time with God. They can trace not missing a day since their parents were reading to them in the womb. I think that’s awesome. But sometimes the prayer-to-answered-prayer ratio and Bible reading hour stats can be discouraging. Like the guy who tells you that he finished a marathon in 2 hours. Sure it’s great, but it makes me want to run a marathon that much less.
4. Email/Facebook/Twitter - Sometimes I jump online to read the Bible from YouVersion, but without thinking, I go right for my email, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s like a muscle memory thing. That’s just where I head to first. Next thing I know I’m checking out John’s vacation to North Carolina pictures; and somewhere between updating my Twitter, and deleting emails I think, “Wait, I got on here to do something…”
5. Myself - There was a television show with Christian Slater called “My Own Worst Enemy”. I never saw an episode, and judging by the fact it only lasted nine episodes, neither did a lot of people. However, I did see a lot of commercials for it. Enough to know that it was about a CIA guy who lived two lives, pitting himself against, well, himself (did I mention it only lasted nine episodes?). I do that. I set myself up and let myself down. These other four on the list are mostly just excuses, and this one is really the root of the problem. I’m working at it. I’m mostly successful, but every now and then, these enemies come directly into play.
What about you? Are you a Cal Ripken of quiet time? Do you have some others that you could add to this list?
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Glad to know I’m not the only one who struggles in this area. Numbers 3 & 4 are my worst enemies, but I’ve also found that lately #2 is a top contender.
Glad I’m not the only one as well.
my work schedule fluctuates regularly. sometimes i go in at 8, sometimes 2, or any time in between. i love having the morning to myself, but like you said, sometimes the twitter/email reflex is too strong. its when i have to be at work early that i almost always miss that important time. well, i guess if there was no struggle to it, then it wouldn’t be important right?
“i guess if there was no struggle to it, then it wouldn’t be important right?” <<~~~ That’s very true. The best things to have are often the hardest to achieve.
I don’t really have any that get in my way, because I don’t try to do them
I’m not entirely convinced this is nearly as important as the push for it has been in the past half century.
Lately, more and more I think the “me and God” mentality is the exact opposite of what we’re called to do. That perhaps God moves stronger as we study, pray, worship and serve alongside each other…as a body.
Perhaps our daily quiet-times, devos, whatnots would be better spent with other people and God. As opposed to by ourselves.
There’s definitely a place for both in my view. Hopefully no one would try to discount what happens when we join with other believers, but Jesus also retreated to ‘lonely’ places to be with the Father. Luke even says that He OFTEN withdrew to such places for prayer. That the authors of the gospels (and the Holy Spirit) felt this was a key point, I believe can be an indication to us. There is value in such a discipline. How we do that is not dogmatic or set in stone rules for all believers, but it’s up to us and how God shows us…
Anyway, without going into such great detail, that’s how I see it!
I would agree with Jason on this one. I know my wife and I will devotions together every now and then, and I always enjoy having a small group or class that we can get into the more personal and deep aspects of Christianity, but I get a lot out of alone time.
Sticking with the exercise metaphor, I like to work out with groups, but there’s just something about exercising alone that’s relaxing and refreshing.
Definitely dig your viewpoint on this though. There is some awesome growth that can be done one-on-one with someone else or with a group as well.
I think there’s definitely room for it. But I just think that (generally speaking) there is a higher priority placed on ‘quiet time’ than is necessary, or maybe even warranted.
I find it really easy for us to fall into a trap of foregoing a shared spiritual journey with a group of believers because of our perceived relationship with God that we experience individually.
Definitely. I don’t think that there’s a priority over another in this case. (thought I agree that there has been a push for alone over group or with others in the past) I would say both are equally beneficial in similar, yet different ways. Good call.
This is why I do my daily reading before I ever get out of bed (on my phone with youversion). I started at the beginning of the year and made it a habit. So far it’s working!
Then whenever in my day (especially in cars alone) I’m usually praying or singing…
I tried to get into this habit of first thing when I wake up. I’ll refer you to my #1 enemy – the snooze button.
Dang, I had a huge comment going on here, so instead I decided to use it as a whole post for my blog… probably tomorrow or something.
Sorry, that’s the downside of great discussion… sometimes it gets bigger than the post itself. :>)
Thanks for sharing, guys.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I’ll be watching my Google Reader for this. =)
All 5 of these apply to me!! Especially that darn snooze button. Even when I try to do them at night before I go to sleep, I usually rush so that I can either read something else or go to sleep. I’m “my own worst enemy” in this department!
I struggle the most on weekends to find my quiet time with God. Then, I don’t have a set schedule, so i’m continually trying to get the next thing crossed off my to-do list. I tell myself that I’ll get to my devos in a little bit. Otherwise, i feel i’d be thinking about all i have to do rather than focusing on God. Weekends are my enemy.
Okay, here you go, guys.
-Others-oriented quiet time
Thanks again for everyone who participated in this in the comments here. You’ve pushed me to actually write this thing.
Also, Brett, now you can see why I didn’t publish the whole thing as a comment. I did add to it for the post (like some definitions), but it was about half finished in this comment box yesterday. :>)
-Marshall Jones Jr.