When I was a newly wed, my husband would drive to my work office at lunchtime and the two of us would drive together to a nearby restaurant. I remember one of my male co-workers once asked me, “The restaurant’s ten minutes away. Why don’t you meet your husband there instead of having him pick you up?”
I responded like any starry-eyed lover. “I want to be with my sweetheart. By driving together, I get to be with him for ten minutes each way!”
That’s how I view my relationship with God. I love the Lord with all my heart and I want to spend time with Him every day. During those harried days when I meet myself coming and going, I will grab whatever time I can find with God even if it’s only a few precious minutes.
I didn’t always make time with God a priority. In my twenties and thirties, I wanted to know God and spend time with Him by praying and reading my Bible. But I thought being still before God was a spiritual discipline . . . something I should do to be a good Christian . . . instead of recognizing that “I get to be with the One I love.”
I also allowed my circumstances (or the people in my life) to dictate when and how long I met with God. Too many years I was content to visit Him for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings at church. My loss. My regret.
In my forties, I met Loretta Chalfant, who offered to walk beside me as my Christian mentor. This woman not only loved the Lord, she made time for Him each day regardless of her circumstances. Loretta changed how I viewed God and my quiet time with Him. I saw through her example, and then personally experienced, what it means to spend time with God.
Meeting with God is a privilege. Not a duty.
Being still in God’s presence is a joy. Not boredom.
God wants to be loved and have His children desire His presence too.
Some might ask, “Can’t we love God without spending time with Him each day? After all, He knows when we’re busy and overwhelmed. He understands there are times when our circumstances (illness, being a caregiver, mom of a newborn) prevent us from making Him a priority. Why would the Lord expect me to squeeze Him into my day when He knows I have no time? No energy. No personal space to call my own.”
And those people would be right. The Lord isn’t blind. God sees and knows everything about us. He understands our human condition. But let me ask a question. Why would anyone want to do life on their own strength? When we’re overwhelmed and at the end of ourselves, isn’ t that all the more reason to seek God?
My daughter knows what it’s like to be worn out and unable to find fifteen minutes all to herself. Jenny’s the mom of a two-year-old boy. If she wants to spend quality time with God, she has to set the alarm clock and rise at dawn before her son wakes up. But I’m sure other young moms will attest with Jenny that sleep deprivation (during the first two years of your child’s life) is a sound excuse for not setting the alarm clock. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt that smells like soured breast milk.
Even so, my daughter agrees that meeting with God at some point in the day is necessary IF we want to experience more of His joy, peace, and wisdom in our lives.
So maybe, just maybe, all our excuses for not meeting with God isn’t about busyness or a lack of time. Maybe it boils down to a lack of desire.
Here’s what Jennifer noticed and wrote about making time for God:
Do you make time for God throughout the week?
If not, why not?
Where can you carve time for God even in this . . . fill in the blank . . . season of life?
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Even In This 