When Quiet Time is just Quiet Time

Today as I sat down to have my quiet time, there were a number of distractions. I normally have my quiet time earlier in the day, but today it didn't work out until later. Steve was putting the kids to bed and our 3 year old's pillow was missing. Don't ask me how a child can misplace a pillow. Anyway, there was quite a kerfuffle over it and I found it hard to concentrate. I was also at the place in my Bible reading where I read Philemon. I wasn't feeling very connected to the scripture, though, of course, I see value in reading it regardless of how I feel. I started to pray, but I didn't feel like I had much to say. So, I just sat for a few minutes. God was silent and I was silent. That's okay. In fact, it is kind of refreshing. Every time I sit down to spend time alone with God doesn't have to involve His revealing new meaning in a particular scripture or my unloading a whole bunch of requests. Sometimes, it is just quiet.

I must admit that I like the really snazzy, inspiring times a lot, but God doesn't work that way all the time. We need a breather sometimes, a time to let the lessons and ideas of other days sink in and take hold. For today, I just ended my quiet time by listing all the little, mundane things I was thankful for, the things I don't often take the time to appreciate.

I'm off to paint my bathroom, now. My dear mother-in-law primed and put the first coat on earlier. It was a fairly hideous yellow-green before and is now a beautiful, soothing and sophisticated 'Papineau'.