Quit Your Quiet Time
Maybe we've limited our own view of God's presence because our expectations get in the way of witnessing God's reality.
I love what most people in Christian communities refer to as “quiet time”.
“Stephanie, if you love it then why are you telling me to quit it?!”
One morning recently, I got myself out of bed early enough to go for a walk and shower, then sit with my cup of coffee, read Scripture and journal. Naturally, the morning didn’t go like that.
As I poured my cup of coffee, I realized I had sincerely neglected the beautiful Peace Lily in our bedroom. It needed pruning, watering, rotating, and sunshine. For a quick second, I started to beat up on myself, realizing I then wouldn’t have as much time to sit and read/journal with God. There goes my chance at a quiet time.
Just as the thought started to slip into my mind, I took a breath and felt the gentle reminder that God is in this moment, too. God was with me on my walk. God was with me as I brushed my hair. God was with me as I ground my coffee beans and breathed in the fresh scent of chocolate, caramel, and baking spices in my dark roast.
God would be with me as I pursued caring for the very thing that God created to grow and blossom, something I took upon myself to be responsible for.
And as I researched how to prune the Peace Lily, I learned about God’s creation. As I beheld all the new spots of growth, I relished in God’s incredible design in nature. As I sat on the floor and poured water all around pot, I recognized my own need for consistent and even watering so that every part of my mind, body, and soul would be quenched with God’s love.
Carving out time in my schedule to just sit, drink my coffee, pray, read Scripture, research the biblical languages, and connect with God is so lovely. But it can quickly become the only way I know how to connect with God.
In case you need this reminder as often as I do, God is so much bigger than the way we think we need to spend time with Him.
Five years ago, I would have told you that a specific quiet time like that is crucial to a healthy relationship with God. For one thing, it’s a way I personally connect with God, so I assumed everyone does. For another thing, reading God’s Word daily is an important part of our faith journey. How else would you accomplish that?
Yes, you can laugh because I’m laughing at myself for having those thoughts, too. There are so many ways to read/learn/absorb Scripture in today’s digital landscape, but I found routine and rigid discipline to be the only way I knew how to connect with God, learn more about God, and pray with God.
It turns out that this “quiet time” regimen withholds from us the multitude of ways God invites us to connect with Him throughout the seemingly mundane daily routines we find ourselves in. Ironically, once we learn to invite God more fully into those spaces, the “mundane tasks” become breathtaking, enjoyable moments.
Have you ever heard of an assessment called Spiritual Pathways? It’s based on a book by Gary Thomas, and it opened my eyes to all the unique ways we each engage with God. Understanding that I connect with God best when I am learning and in nature has allowed me the grace to pursue those activities daily. Going for a walk and listening to a podcast helps me feel connected to God. Caring for plants and learning how they thrive helps me feel connected to God.
The important reminder is that those things help us feel closer to God, but it doesn’t change God’s closeness to us.
God is with you every moment after you say “yes, Lord—I will follow you.”
You don’t have to do anything specific to cultivate a way for God to draw near to you. He already does.
Creating space for the ways we connect with God—prayer, hospitality, worship, studying, being in nature—is for us to open our eyes, hearts, and minds, to the reality of God’s presence.
So what is it for you? Do you thrive in quiet spaces where you need to withdraw from people and distractions to get alone with your thoughts? Me, too. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only place God meets you.
Cultivate the environment where you can see God most clearly, but don’t let that become a hard and fast rule where you begin to limit your lens to only seeing God in that space. God is with you, not just in your quiet time—everywhere, everyday, every moment.
If you take the Spiritual Pathways assessment, I’d love to know your most common pathways of connecting with God! Comment to let me know!👇
"God is so much bigger than the way we think we need to spend time with Him." Such a good reminder!
I’m an intellectual on the quiz (surprise!) but also equal parts contemplative and naturalist - with caregiver and enthusiast right behind. Thank you for sharing this quiz! That was so helpful to open my eyes to different modes of worship and to not put God, myself, or anyone else in a box. ❤️