Freedom From "Quiet Times"

“Quiet times”. Quite the buzz word for Christians these days huh?

We seem to think we are all good with God if we are keeping up with our daily devotionals, making sure we at least read one verse of the Bible, and not forgetting pray at the end.

the view off my back deck at home

I find myself thinking that my time with God should look a certain way and if it doesn’t then it is not sufficient, like I didn’t do it right.

My friend Corinne and I got to spend some time together in her cute little house the other night and the subject of “quiet times” came up. She said that she has been in conversations before where she has said, “ I don’t call it a quiet time. I call it quality time, because I sure don’t except for God to be quiet and I am not going to be quiet either!”

I cracked up! Corinne has this spitfire side of her that you wouldn’t expect, but its awesome and I love when it comes out. But how truthful is that!?

sweet Booger dog all curled up 

I do not want to be quiet. I want the Lord to hear me. I want to sit bare in front of Him, giving Him my whole heart. And if by doing that I am no longer “quiet”, then sorry about it. I do not want the Lord to be quiet either. I want to hear His roars for me. I want to see and feel Aslan doing His thing. In my mind the best “quiet times” are full of emotion, movement, and presence; all of which don’t make me think of quietness.

I think what the label "quiet times" is getting at is a time in your day where you can sit, alone, and simply be with God. For you to get away from distractions, from the noise that so easily fills our days. For us to observe the fact that God is by our side at all times. I know I am a happier and more at peace when I engage in this time, I know I trust God more when I've spent more time praying to Him. So it is not that I do not agree with the idea of "quiet times", I just don't want us to be confined by it.

God is ALL around us. God is not confined to a devotional book, to the Bible, or to a prayer journal. He is so, so much bigger than that. We can engage in His presence at any time and in any place. We can have beautiful rich moments with God whenever and wherever we want! 

running down by the river yesterday afternoon

He does not keep a tally of how many good “quiet times” we have with Him. That isn't even a thing. He just wants US. Whatever we do to give a little bit ourselves to Him, he gives us back ten fold. He wants us to see Him so that we will fall more in love with Him. Reading your devotional every morning does not necessarily equal loving God more or knowing Him better.

I have found that by observing His presence and engaging in His goodness that is constantly wooing me, I love Him more at the end of the day – and that is ALL He wants. He wants more of our love cause there is a snowball-affect after you start loving Him. Crazy stuff happens, all by the work of His hands, and it is always good.

Last weekend in the mountains

So I challenge you to move beyond the boundaries of your devotional, your bible, and your journal. I am not saying those are not good enough I am just saying there is so much freedom in the way we can worship and get to know our Lord that I don’t want y’all to miss out on! Listen to Judah & The Lion in the car, pray aloud on a walk alone, look for where you see His love and write it down, lay on the ground and breathe deeply, listen to a sermon while you cook or run… and those are just things that came to my head.

I don’t want to feel trapped by the words “quiet time”. I don’t think our God wants us to either. So run wild and free kids! Because our God loves us and that is never going to change.