Happy Monday, y’all! It’s a rainy start to our week here, but that’s okay because it’s SUMMER and we don’t have anywhere to be….except swim lessons 🙂 And those will probably be canceled today.
I know I’ve written before on my blog about my quiet time, but I’ve never dedicated a post for it and I don’t know why because it’s a pretty important part of each of my days. In case you are confused on what I’m talking about, a daily quiet time is a time each day that Christians set aside to spend intentional time with the Lord by reading their Bible, maybe a commentary book of some sort, and praying.
Just to give some background info, I did not grow up in a Christian household (please note: this is no judgment toward my parents; I’m just simply stating facts and not faulting them at all), so I did not have this modeled for me. I wasn’t introduced to the concept of quiet time until I was in high school and my youth minister would randomly ask those in my youth group how our quiet times were going, so I started reading my Bible daily so I could be ready for when he asked me ha! I didn’t know what a true quiet time looked like until college when I lived with my best friend and had it modeled for me in that way.
I used to do my quiet time at night but I realized that sometimes I was so tired at night that I would cut my quiet time short because of that. Maybe 5 years ago (I can’t remember…maybe 6?) I decided to start doing my quiet time in the morning and I haven’t looked back since!
Today I wanted to share how I do my quiet time in case you are like I used to be and don’t have a model for it! I also want to add that you will go through different seasons of life where your “quiet” time isn’t necessarily quiet. There have been times where I’ve either had a newborn or even recently where Merritt is up super early, so my quiet time is done with her beside me watching tv. Instead of me getting aggravated that my quiet time is interrupted for the day, I remind myself that I’m modeling for my children what the life of a Christian looks like in hopes that one day their lives will look like that, too.
First, you need to find a “spot” in your house where you do your daily quiet time. I LOVE doing mine in my bed because my bed is so comfortable and soft. It helps that Dustin is an early riser and once he’s awake, he’s up and out of the bed, so that’s why I can do mine in my bed. Sometimes I do it in the living room, and once our upstairs playroom isn’t used as a playroom anymore (aka toys everywhere), I will probably do it up there where it’s really quiet.
Next, you need all of your materials. For me, that’s…
my Bible–I use the ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible where the commentary points to Christ and the gospel. I would also recommend just the ESV Study Bible, too!
a study book–I am currently going through The Bible Recap each morning, but there are lots of different study books to choose from! I love Warren Wiersbe’s commentaries for the books of the Bible (this one is for Romans), and with those, I’ll read a few verses and then read the commentary on them. Sometimes I will do a study during Lent and Advent, and other times I will read through my Bible and read the commentary in my Bible.
Bible highlighters–these are made to highlight in your Bible without bleeding through and they are the best! I have this pack but they also now make pastel colors and once I’m done with the ones I have, I plan on buying those next!
a pen–these pens also don’t bleed through so I use them to write in my Bible and in my book
After I make myself a cup of coffee, I start by praying and asking God to open my heart and mind to His word. Then I read the scripture assigned for the day and then read the commentary in the Bible recap book. Then I write down my prayers in my book as I pray and I’ve decided that once I’ve finished doing the recap at the end of the year, I’m going to get a special notebook for writing my daily prayers down because I’m really enjoying doing that.
That’s it! It doesn’t have to be super fancy and some days, I get to spend true quality time with God and some days I have kids running around :).
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