Quiet time

This morning, I had a quiet time.

People who read some of my Facebook or blog posts will be surprised at that statement, because I've written before about how I hate the term "quiet time".  "Quiet time," in the church I left, was used to refer to a mandatory time of daily prayer and Bible study.  And you would be asked, what are you studying in your quiet times?

The term "quiet time" has very bad connotations for me, and that is why I refuse to use it when I talk about "a period of time for prayer and Bible study".

This morning, however, I sat at our dining room table, eating the granola-and-plain-yogurt mixture I've gotten addicted to lately, and read a few Scripture sections from a devotional book that's part of my Logos software package (I have a subscription to Logos.com, a service that provides multiple Bible translations as well as a number of other study/devotional resources.)

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the forty days before Easter, and I guess it's appropriate that I began this period with a morning time of reflection--of "quiet", shall we say.

I sat with yogurt and granola, a glass of water, and read about Jesus being both the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) and wondered, if Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, does that mean I don't have to constantly "work on" my faith?  If so, that takes a lot of the pressure off of me to "get it right".

This, I think, is what is meant by "quiet time" -- a time to be still and quiet before the Lord, to listen to Him speak in whatever way He chooses.  A time just to sit, and breathe, and not worry about the rushing and helter-skelter of the coming day.

Soon, I will have to leave the computer and start some running around.  I see the chiropractor today, I need to plan my meals for the month, do this month's budget, cook dinner tonight, and learn some new music for our praise team.

But this morning, I had a quiet time.

Perhaps it's this kind of "quiet time" that I need more often.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.