What Is Your Quiet Time Routine

This is my "morning quiet time" material.

I usually start my time with God between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. In the winter I like to stay in my bedroom snuggled under my comforter, but in the summer I like to watch the sun come up from my living room chair.

I start with my prayer journal. Next I read the daily scriptures that my church outlines, followed by "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. After that I read the daily reading in "The Word for You Today" and I try and spend time meditating between each reading. It's one of the benefits of being single and retired.

With the remaining time I work on whatever bible study I'm doing. Right now I'm reading "The Cup of Our Life" by Joyce Rupp and "What Happens When Women Walk in Faith" by Lysa TerKeurst.

When I'm finished reading I try and journal something God has shown me through one of the readings. Sometimes, I find myself getting so excited over something God has shown me that I want to go right to my blog and start sharing it. But usually by the time I interrupt my thought process to turn on the computer and get a second cup of coffee, I loose the momentum. Usually, I've completely lost the awesome revelation by the time my fingers are ready to type.

I get so frustrated when I try and recall the way God spoke and the way the words came so eloquently into my mind. When I try to repeat them in writing or in speaking they are gone and just the concrete knowledge remains. My conversation with God will usually go something like this: "Okay God that was an astounding piece of information. How come you revealed this to me and now I can't even remember your words as I try to share with everyone else?

I can usually hear God whispering "That's because that piece of knowledge is for you alone. I will reveal it to others in my own time and way."

Does that ever happen to you?

The other morning as I was surfing the blogs I came across a post asking "What kind of a soil are you? I was excited because God had just shown me something on Sunday that surprised me and I'd been wondering whether or not to share it.

I mentioned above that one of the things I do each morning is read the daily scriptures my church has outlined. Each week they list those Scriptures in our church bulletin. It was only about a year ago I finally started adding these readings to my morning quiet time. There is an old testament reading, a Psalm reading, and a Gospel reading, and on Sunday there is an additional reading from one of the Epistles.

What I like about the Sundays readings is that they are the same readings that will be read in every Catholic church throughout the world that day. I like that so many people are being fed the exact words that day because it helps me feel even more a part of the "Body of Christ".

Last Sundays Gospel Reading was "The Parable of the Four Soils".

Whenever I have read that scripture in the past, I imagined each soil to represent a different kind of person, and I was always bothered hearing Jesus tells the disciples that anyone who hears the word and does not understand it will have it plucked away by the evil one, then Jesus talks in parables so only a few understand him?

That just didn't make a lot of sense to me because I believe God wants us all to be saved and how can we believe if we can't understand that we need to be saved in the first place.

Sunday, God gave me the revelation to begin looking at the soil differently.

Each soil doesn't represent a kind of person. Each soil is manifested in me.

"Some seed fell along the path": A path is where we walk as we journey to God. If we get off our path and take a different course thinking we know a better way, or by letting sin lure us away, then we leave the path where God sprinkled his Word, unprotected, and Satan is able to come and take away everything God has scattered for us.

"Some seed fell on rocky places": Jesus tells us this is the seed that we recieve eagerly but it can't take root and dies off.

How often do I get fired up to make a change in my life? Like losing weight. Every morning I get up and say "today's the day".

My body is a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells, but I don't take care of it like I should. Why is that important? I learned a few years ago that when I exercise, my mind seems to have more of a capacity for clearer thinking. If I think more clearly, I am more likely to comprehend what God is saying to me. If you haven't reached age 50 yet that statement may not ring true. But those of you who have had brain cells go south will understand that statement much better.

Also, eating the wrong kind of food zaps the energy I should have to move around and to stay alert enough to hear and see God working in my life.

My rocky soil also consists of areas of unforgiveness or perhaps an area of greed. Sometimes all I need to do is toss out some of the rocks that are cluttering my soil. But other times a jack hammer is need to chop through the strongholds in order to find more soil that can be cultivated and prepared for planting.

"Other seed fell among the thorns and choked the plants": Jesus tells us this is the seed fails to take root because of worry. The thorns grow up and choke the fruit in areas where I have failed to respond to God's leading. How many times have I failed to step out in faith because I was worried of looking like a fool. How many times have I missed an opportunity to minister to someone because I was too lazy or because it would take me out of my comfort zone. How many times have I robbed God with my tithes because of my own lack of trust.

Jesus tells us "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him"

I don't want to sound greedy but I really don't have nearly enough knowledge of God and his plan for my life. I would certainly hate to have him take away what little amount I do have.

So I guess its up to me to start conserving my soil. I need to quite planting the soil of my mind with useless knowledge like, what happened on the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, so there will be more fertile ground for God to plant his wisdom.

I need to stay on the path and protect what God sows. I need to get rid of the rocks in my life so there is more area for God's word to take root. I need to fertilize, and water the seed that lands on my soil not just so it takes root but so it produces fruit. And I need to trust God more so weeds cannot grow up and choke to death the crop God is trying to produce through me.

So this is a sample of what God reveals to me in my quiet time. How about you? What's your quiet time routine and what has God shown you?