Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s a new day of a new week and I can’t think of a more important way to spend my Time than in the Presence of the One who died for me…the One who gives me life! It’s in His Presence that I find my Peace and I Receive my Instruction for this Journey called Life so, the way I see it, I can’t afford NOT to be still and listen for Him. There are plenty of things that I could be doing in the first few hours of any new day, but His Word says to “be still and know that I am God” and it’s that “still” part that feeds my soul the most. More than Christian music playing in the background or a long walk to commune with His creation, it’s when we’re “still” that He is able to drive a Message home and it’s when we’re “still” that He can Speak to the Heart with no outward distractions at all. So…” still” I am day after day. Isn’t that the way you spend your morning too?

It’s interesting to hear how some people define their “quiet time” with God. Some people have a Bible reading plan to help them stay on track to read the entire Bible from start to finish. Some people put on Christian music while they prepare breakfast for the family. Some people read a page or two from a devotional written by someone else that had been “still” before God. Some people work on homework for a Bible study they’ve committed to. Some people read a chapter or two from a book written by a Christian author. Some will tune in to a pastor’s message on TV or the Internet. Some people will multi-task by listening to a spiritual message through their earbuds while working at the gym or taking their morning walk or running. Some will pray on their way to work or they’ll insert a CD to listen to a spiritual message along the way. There’s nothing wrong with any of these things because each one is an effort to fill the mind and the soul with Good things. But none of these things leave room to “be still” before the Living God, and none of them allow for those miraculous moments when God unexpectedly “shows up” in the quiet. Although God is always with us, and I’m sure He likes to see some of those steps we take to fill our world with Him, I think He likes it best when everything else in the world is set aside and tuned out and He gets some serious one-on-one time with His child. We can study until we turn blue, but the Relationship is built by spending quality time with the King of all kings. For me it’s in the early hours of each new day…just me and my God, before my day has a chance to distract me.

It’s not easy to shut off the mind or to shut out the world because life overflows with distractions. It’s much easier to push the snooze button on the alarm clock a few more times than it is to get up earlier in the morning to make time for God, and it’s not easy to push the “pause” button on our to-do list so that we can “be still” in His Presence. For some people, it’s not easy to be in the quiet at all and they avoid shutting down the world for the Living God because of it. Some of them can’t stand to be still and some are afraid of what God may say to them in the quiet…ouch. There are others that claim that they don’t need a focused time to meet with God because they “talk to Him all day long”…they have no desire for the “still” time at all. Some people praise technology that allows them to tap the Bible App anytime and anywhere they want to. Because they have 24/7 access in a fast-paced world, they don’t understand why anybody would waste time being “still” before God when they can “tap into” Him anytime they feel like it. For them, He’s just an app away! How did it come to be that we’ve become more obsessed with how much we can get done in a 24-hour period that we’ve lost the importance of relationships? If parents and partners so willingly trade quality time with their own loved ones for whatever tickles their own fancy, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that they see being still in the presence of a Mighty God as unnecessary nonsense too.

I’ve got a list of things to do a mile long and I’m (at least) as busy as the next guy, BUT before I get busy on this new day, I get “still” and in those “still” moments nothing else and no one else even hits my radar screen…it’s just me and my God. He gets the first of me and the best of me and the one-on-one time that He tells me I need in order to live the Life He wants me to live.

How about you?