"Quiet Time"

   If you have been around the Christian church for very long you have heard people talk about "quiet time". Some may refer to this as "time alone with God", their "devotional time", or time spent in the "prayer closet". All good phrases and nice ideas. All constitute the idea of showing up to spend time with God. There are as many tools, ideas, suggestions, and recommendations for when and how you spend this time as you can imagine. I don't really have anything new to add. 
    I was just looking back at some of my journal posts from this week. By the way, "journaling" is very high on the list of things to do when you are having "quiet time". 
   Anyway, I was looking at my journal posts and see where I have chosen to make a deliberate change in my "quiet time". 

     I  invited God into my quiet space and sat with Him. It's a re-start. And I've said I want a do-over. 
   This is different than having quiet time, or reading my bible or praying or writing in my journal. This is quieting my heart, my mind, my actions and just resting with God. I symbolize the start of this time by lighting a candles. Symbolic of the Light of the World, bringing Light into my heart, God shining His Light on me. 
   First I take a few deep breaths. I hardly realize how shallow my breathing usually is and how often I'm not breathing but tensely holding my breath. Then     I specifically ask God to be with me - 

   Holy Spirit take control

   Take my body, mind and soul

   Put a finger on anything that doesn't please you

   Anything I do that grieves you

   Holy Spirit take control

(These are some lyrics from a song. I don't even know how I know those words - but that's where I start.) 
   As different thoughts enter my mind I just release them to God. I acknowledge them - yep - there's that fear, anger, hurt, frustration. And instead of dwelling, ruminating, worrying, trying to figure out the answer - I let it go. 
   And as my mind quiets I soak in the presence of God. 
   Then I read Scripture and read just to the point where God speaks to me. If you have "quiet time" you will become familiar with God "speaking" to you. For me it's usually just a strong sense in my spirit that God is pointing something out specifically to me. That's when I pause and just sit quietly with the Scripture. 
   
When it is time to close I pray. Ruth Haley Barton writes this:
   "Fortunately, if we have done our resting, things are starting to shift so we are getting clearer about what we want. In Elijah's resting, he gained clarity and resolve that had been impossible for him to find when he was desperately tired. This is true for all of us. Once we get a little rest, we start to get our perspectives back. Rather than reacting to everything around us, we start to have a sense of what is truly called for in our life." (p. 86) Invitation to Solitude and Silence