Generation NeXt Parenting

Blue Like Tidy-Bowl Cleaner, Kool-Aid, and Heaven:

Thoughts on Home, Family, and God from the middle of Suburbia!

Though I grew up in church, the Bible and I weren’t properly introduced until I was already a young mom with three kids. I had aspirations of becoming a writer, so I set my alarm clock early to start writing before my kids woke up. This worked, well, for about a week until I started feeling guilty. That was because I often complained about not having time to read my Bible and pray, yet I had made the time to write.

So the next day when my alarm went off, I decided to read my Bible first. Five minutes should be enough time, I figured.

Amazingly, though my motivation was to ease my conscience, God began to speak. Five minutes turned into fifteen, and soon my little date with the Good Book became a romance with my Maker.

I got myself a journal, and I started jotting down all the Scripture verses that really stood out to me. Sometimes I added my thoughts. Other times written prayers.

I added some devotional books to my morning time, and wow … I found some good stuff. Before I knew it, my morning writing time had been replaced. I grew to need my time with God. Just me and Him and a cup of java. God spoke. I listened. And my heart was transformed.

Twelve years later, I now long for my morning solitude. I get downright crabby when, for some reason or another, I miss out on those moments with my God. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s okay to be jealous of my time with God. It’s okay to be needy. (I learned that from my one of my Bible readings somewhere along the line.)

How come we, as people, hesitate to take time for what we need most of all? Sometimes when I’m at church, I wonder if I’m the only one who is so needy, and so in love at the same time? I have to admit I’m discouraged when I see people in Sunday school class looking in the front of their Bibles to figure out where Hebrews can be found. I try to share my passion for my morning moments, only to receive comments like ‘I’m not a morning person’ or ‘Well, your kids are bigger now.’ Both are true, sort of. But they have little to do with what the Word of God now means to me.

One Scripture verse that has made it into my journal more than once, and is highlighted in bright yellow, is Acts 4:13: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

To sum it up, that’s what my morning quiet time means to me. I’ve been with Jesus, and I’d like to think it gives me more courage and wisdom than if I’d not spent time in His Word. But more than what I get out of it, it’s just the fact I’ve BEEN WITH JESUS. Like a teen girl who just had a first date with the most handsome and popular guy at school, I get that giddy, overwhelmed, undeserved feeling every time OUR time comes to an end. And that’s something I hope I never outgrow.

Labels: bible, courage, devotional books, god, scripture, transformation, wisdome, writing

posted by Tricia Goyer @ 8:57 AM