Why I Stopped Having ‘Quiet Time’ {for all the right reasons}

“…the resolving of the conflict between sacred and the secular (or, better said, the repairing of the damage done by divorcing them) has been billed as the major problem of modern theology.” -Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, 1967 ///// The writer of those words penned his thoughts 50 years ago, and while the current world of practicing Christians may have different theological … Continue reading Why I Stopped Having ‘Quiet Time’ {for all the right reasons}

Bob Goff, Keith Green & Gratitude

2015-07-24 12.34.03

Lower Yosemite Falls, 2015 jlc

“We’ll know we’re living gratefully by seeing how our love multiplies itself in the lives of the people around us. People don’t follow vision; they follow availability.”

-Bob Goff, founder of lovedoes.org

Last week I rewarded myself for five days straight of computer-gnashing a.k.a. book writing, by getting a pedicure. I dropped into my usual place downtown, grateful they had an open chair. Deciding to switch up my summer electric blue, I reached for a new color before I sat down, something closer to candy apple red, in honor of fall.

Instead of tapping on my tablet, playing Words with Friends (where my brother and sister always beat me), or checking Facebook, Instagram or email on my phone, I vowed to just be available, focus-wise, and opened the magazine in my lap.

As it turned out, there was a new gal taking care of me that day and we didn’t have any kind of conversation, per se. Instead, I found someone speaking to me through the pages of The Magnolia Journal.  The piece I read was entitled, “Time for Gratitude,” by Bob Goff. The article began with Goff’s retelling of how he wrote a letter to Keith Green one year when he was in college. And how Keith took the time to write him back.

Keith Green was probably one of the best-known Christian musicians in the late l970’s and into the 80’s; his music was a huge part of my newfound walk as a Christian.  Back in the day when the Jesus Movement was bursting the seams of Southern California, many, many musicians and singers were also being birthed. Every other weekend there was a Christian concert of some kind. (Free, I might add).

My husband and I were living in a Christian community at the time and the leadership decided to organize a weekend-long Christian music festival. Keith was invited and just like that, he and his wife Melody drove up to our Central California location, sharing their life and music with us. My husband and our community’s staff carpenter built a stage for Keith to play the baby grand piano on that the Bible school owned. Keith nearly destroyed not only the piano but the platform Bill & Jack had constructed.

That man was animated for Jesus, to say the least.

Anyway.

Keith and Melody were part of a Christian community similar to ours in Southern California back in the 1970’s at the beginning of the Jesus Movement. There were many groups of Christians in the country living with work and living spaces and finances all shared. It was an interesting time, to say the least. We shared several conversations with them over the weekend about what it was like working and living in close proximity to brothers and sisters. I will always remember how the two of them took time to speak with us, exuding grace and giving, embodying the way Jesus would live. Continue reading “Bob Goff, Keith Green & Gratitude”

Read & Pray in Your ‘Walking Around Life’

I was going to subtitle this, “Will Jesus Still Love me if I Don’t Have ‘Quiet Time?” ‘cause I’ve been thinking about that question a lot lately.  Don’t get me wrong—I’ve studied Psalm 119—I know God’s word is the compass for my life, that I can’t live without it.

But sometimes life goes in a different direction.

I remember the days when I was able to sit outside on my deck for an hour at a stretch, maybe three times a week, and just listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speak. I wrote and wrote and wrote what I heard in those whispers on the wind to me.

I recall sweet moments at my desk reading Scripture or perusing a favorite devotional—Oswald Chambers, Andrew Murray, Charles Spurgeon. The words seemed to light up the page, resonating deep in my spirit.  Time after time there would be an ‘aha’ moment when I sensed God’s presence and His pleasure as I sat to soak myself in the Word.

But I wonder about those folks like myself who find themselves in a season where quiet time is pretty much non-existent. I’m writing a book, shepherding a small group of like-minded writer folks, editing for others and caring for my kids via phone calls and texts that come all hours of the day. I need to be interruptable for that; I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, what about this question—is there really a divide between sacred and secular? A time that is not God’s (if we belong to Him)? Is He more pleased with me because I take time for studying the word or reading a devotion? Or is He okay (because He knows this season of my life) if I lean into Him when I can, stay hungry for His presence in all the hours of my day?

My son has a new job in a Frito-Lay warehouse (yay for all-you-can-eat Doritos) and he works 60 hour weeks these days. Even on a regular day (i.e. 8 hours) his moments of alone time or quiet time vanish as he communicates with his wife or nurtures his five children. His thirst is there for God’s word—he has a seminary degree, steeped in Scripture inside and out–but the chances to drink are few and far between.

Or what about my niece’s husband, new dad of two, who works nights, sleeps days and hugs his wife and babies in between? Where or how would he, could he, find moments to spend with Jesus? Would it be before or after worship practice, where he plays drums and/or guitar?

Or what about the baristas at Starbuck’s who get up at oh dark thirty to make sure our coffee-fueled world goes on? There are plenty of Jesus-loving espresso-making folks out there—how do they manage to fit in time with God?

And is God worried about that? Really?

Here’s what Oswald himself had to say about “quiet time”; May 12th ‘My Utmost for His Highest.’

“Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, “I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God.” No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.

Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.”

Continue reading “Read & Pray in Your ‘Walking Around Life’”

On Prayer, Potatoes and Pulling Weeds

I have two garden beds in my back yard—one a perennial bed of flowers, the other a 12×6 rectangle of mostly weeds. The flower bed is behaving as expected this time of year–peony shoots with their magenta spikes heading skyward, the clematis tendrils beginning to twirl up and around the bird gazebo. A ‘Sombrero’ Echinacea (bright orange) is just beginning to sneak back through the … Continue reading On Prayer, Potatoes and Pulling Weeds

Wait Training {a #poem}

I want to fly these dumbbells up, down, up, down quick! The momentum of each lift rising at my side pushing past perhaps what’s safe or wise in the name of what? Speed or yes, the checklist-exercise- done! When I slow instead, face the window and raise these weighted arms slow, slow, slow-up; slow, slow, slow- down-the strain increases but the work muscle-wise is longer … Continue reading Wait Training {a #poem}

Summer is for Listening

“My soul, wait silently for God alone; for my expectation is from Him.” Psalm 62:5 “How slow many are to learn that quietness is blessing, that quietness is strength, that quietness is the source of the highest activity–the secret of all true abiding in Christ! Let us try to learn it and watch out for whatever interferes with it.  The dangers that threaten the soul’s … Continue reading Summer is for Listening

Thoughts on an Amaryllis

Dry, peeling globe, whiskered, spidery tendrils bottomside. Topside, a thumbnail pokes through, plays at growing green, threatening strong stalks up, up, up. Blooms are said to hide within– secrets in scarlet, crimson, peach pearly white, the palest pink– a plantiferous palette of possibilities.   But I do not see their beauty now Cannot feel any joy at what is there unseen. I’m feeling bulb-like these … Continue reading Thoughts on an Amaryllis

Abiding (Still)

Jesus said, “I am the Door” and beckoned us to walk through. Once inside He urges us to dwell there where He is. I’m clinging friends, and feasting and reading along with our pastor leading us through John 15, where we’ve been dwelling and he’s been telling and spelling out the truth where Paul prayed for us ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.’ I read in my commentary (thank you, … Continue reading Abiding (Still)

Journeying–The Romance of the Daily

Today I travel to Southern California for the wedding of the decade.   Well, for my family, it’s the wedding of the decade.    I am the oldest of 5 children and the last time my brothers and sisters and I were together with our spouses was 1999.    My sister L’s only son is being married and as happens on occasions like this, people … Continue reading Journeying–The Romance of the Daily

Throw Down your Oars and Surrender

Cedar River-Renton WA, outside my daughter’s first apartment I’ve been a little preoccupied (okay, a LOT preoccupied) with finding a new teaching position for next year. I’ve felt a stirring to do so, confident (mostly) it’s the right thing to do, but now I’m in the hard part–trusting God to help me. I’d much rather spend all my free time on Craigslist looking at the … Continue reading Throw Down your Oars and Surrender

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