My Quiet Time

 By: Grace Metzger

Draw near to God, and

He will draw near to you.

James 4:8

Quiet time was something that didn't come easy to me. I always remember my great-grandpa who would wake up at 4am just to read his Bible. This man was one of the best people I knew, so many times I would go to visit his house just to see him outside in his rocking chair, sitting quietly with God. When I was young I envisioned myself becoming like that, someone who could just sit quietly with God for hours on end every day. But the truth was that I spent many of my early adult years having no time with God. I prayed, I went to Church, I did everything I thought I had to do to be a Christian, but I never spent one on one time with God.

But when you prayed, go into your room and shut the door

and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father

who is in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6

I realized that becoming this committed Christian who spent hours every morning reading the Bible and praying didn't happened automatically. I wasn't going to start waking up at 4am to read the Bible when I wasn't setting any alarms. I was expecting these results without trying to put in effort or practice. I quickly realized it wasn't working when I looked at my life and realized how long it's been since I spent time in the Bible. 

I tried to jump into it, I set aside an hour each day before bed and forced myself to read. That, sadly, didn't work for me as I noticed I was falling asleep well before my hour was done. I felt ashamed, what seemed to come easy for other believers proved to be difficult for me. So I tried a different approach, instead of reading my Bible in my room before bed I start to listen to it while walking. I would go walking on these nature trails for hours, some days I would be listening to the Bible while others I spent the time in quiet prayer. 

This helped me, it got me in the habit of carving time to spend away in God while allowing me to move my body and not fall asleep like I previously was. As I continued this it started changing a bit, during moments where I had to sit down on my walks, which was quiet often for me, I would read the Bible on my phone. I started noticing I was spending more time reading then walking! 

My quiet time doesn't look like what you might see on social media, where you have a nice mug of tea, a candle lit, and you're sitting in your perfectly clean kitchen reading your Bible. But that doesn't mean it's wrong or not as impacting. Where you do it doesn't matter at all! What matters is that you're making an effort to carve out time to just be with God, whether it's in your car at lunch or while going on a walk. The time with God growing your relationship is what's important! It doesn't have to be this long, perfect thing. Just try to carve out some time with God, doesn't matter where, when, or for how long. Trust me you will see a change in your walk with God from doing this!

Discussion Questions:

1.) How do you find time to spend with God?

2.) What is your biggest struggle when trying to find quiet time?