“Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath.” (Psalm 116:2)
There are many things we may not be able to control throughout our day.
Your day could be a very smooth one or it may turn out to be a day when we have difficult discussions, problems to solve, projects to complete, meetings to attend and obstacles to overcome. However, there is one thing we can control, and that is what we do at the start of our day.
How you start your day will have a huge impact on how you manage and finish your day.
Quiet Time is the time we spend with God at the beginning of our day:
It is “me time with God” when we can sit in His presence, talk to Him, learn from Him, learn more about Him and just let ourselves relax in His love and presence.
It is the time when we can be alone with Him and talk to Him about what concerns we have about the day and ask for His guidance on how to handle them in the way that blesses Him and others.
It is the time to quiet our soul before Him and before the stresses and the demands of the day try to affect us and distract us from the knowledge of His power and presence.
It is the time to focus on how wonderful and magnificent the Lord is and to remember that the joy of the Lord is our strength, no matter what the day brings.
It is the time to reflect on God’s standards, and not the world’s, on issues we are dealing with.
It is the time to see what the Lord wants us to know that may be helpful for that day or one day in the future.
It is the time to prepare for our day, and the responsibilities that lay ahead, with the attitude God wants us to have because we have had time to reflect on His love and character at the start of our day.
It is the time of the day when the first thing we visualize is the Lord bending down to listen to us as we speak to Him.
This past week, I had a last minute request from a staff member to take a vacation day. Agreeing to it would have caused the rescheduling of appointments, disappointment and frustration for people whose appointments needed to be changed and extra work for the admin staff. We have a work policy that vacation requests need to be in writing and well ahead of the time requested for the specific days. Agreeing to this request would also not be fair to people who submit their requests ahead of time. All this being said, if a staff member has an emergency then we will jump into action and do what needs to be done. However, this is reserved for those urgent and unusual situations and not a last minute request to take a day off.
As I spent my time with the Lord in the morning, I came across a Bible verse that I had written down a few days earlier. When I had read Psalm 15:2 it had grabbed my attention. I had to write it down. I now know why. God was preparing a response for me that I would need later.
“Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.” (Psalm 15:2)
I had journalled “Be sincere, kind and honest.” As I reflected, in God’s presence, on those words, I had my answer on what I needed to do.
I needed to be honest about my concerns that unless it was an emergency, we unfortunately could not grant her request.
I needed to be kind and realize that there were likely some difficult things going on her life that precipitated this request.
I needed to be sincere that I wanted to help in any way that I could, even though it was not realistic to give the staff member this day off.
The situation was resolved in that she was able to take a different day off later which did not impact people. I was thankful to God for His leading in how to resolve this issue.
The busyness of life is not a reason to miss solitude time with God in the morning. In fact, the busier you are, the more you actually need this peaceful and close time with the Lord.
There is not a recipe on what your quiet time should look like or how long it should take. There are specific things you will want to include but the structure should be individualized to you and also how you learn best. Next week, we will discuss some of the things to consider in your quiet time and different approaches you can take. I hope you will join us next week as we review this time in the morning when God bends down to listen to what you want to tell Him.
May the Lord richly bless you this week!
Bonny, Christian Women at Work