No time
I’ve written about fighting to protect my daily morning routine with God before, but it’s a lesson I’ve recently struggled to live up to. So, I felt it was worth writing about again.
I work as a fintech analyst. A fancy way of saying I consume a disturbing amount of financial news, interview experts, and spend too many nights glaring at my laptop screen, racing to turn in articles.
Most mornings find me clamoring to get in any extra wink of sleep. Sometimes, it feels like I need a giant construction crane to forcibly extract me from bed. On those mornings, the farthest thing from my mind is cracking open my Bible. And when I somehow muster the strength to reach for my bible, there’s the mental battle to focus on the words on the page when my thoughts drift to the unfinished article draft that I’m behind schedule on.
If you allow me more time, I will prepare a longer list of excuses for why I’m tempted to skip my morning times with God.
But like a mentor once told me, “Life only gets busier from this moment onwards.” As a newlywed, those words have definitely proven true. If I don’t master the discipline now, there’s no way I’m picking it up when I have little ones scampering about the house, wreaking havoc in every direction.
The busier you get, the more you need these sacred times. Remember the rich man in Luke 12:15–21? One thing we can admire about the rich man is that he was a zealous go-getter. I’d probably have loved to have him as a boss or a co-worker, this guy was super ambitious. His only problem was he spent more time building up his CV, and there was little to no time to slot God in. He ended up trading in salvation for his schedule.
The sobering words of Mark 8:36 ring true for this go-getter, ambitious, rich man, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
So, my dear fellow busy go-getters, here’s a list of ideas to help you get serious about your morning routine with God:
#1: Do it in the AM
- I know, yes, I said it, in the morning. It’s that time of the day when you’re doing all you can not to miss the bus or to briefly run through your slides before a Zoom presentation. Well, get up a little earlier to sneak some time in with your Maker. In Mark 1:35–39 we see how Jesus sets up his day, he hangs out with God SUPER early in the morning. He does so because he knows God gives him the clarity, wisdom, and perspective needed to make tough decisions during the day.
#2: Pray through the mental blockers FIRST
- Sometimes, my barrier is not as much physical as mental. I’m an overthinker by nature, so I usually carry A TON of mental baggage that makes it hard to connect with God mentally. I’ve learned to pray through my mental clog before opening my Bible. Pray about everything from the life-threatening to the trivial. Most times, it could be an unsolved problem from work or a challenging situation that’s unsettling me. Unless I do that, I’d be staring at the same syllable in the Bible for 20 mins. So, pray, God hears you! (Jeremiah 33:3)
#3: Make it a dialogue, not a monologue
- We speak to God when we pray. God speaks back to us when we read our Bible. God doesn’t exist just to listen to all your problems. His job is also to transform you through your problems. In 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we learn that God uses his Bible to train us. Just like we have physical trainers that whip us into shape at the gym, God is our spiritual trainer, and the Bible is God’s gym, so come ready for a complete spiritual workout (prayer + reading your Bible).
#4: Drill into your weak spots
- The Bible can be an overwhelming book to navigate, with so many books, verses, and difficult names to pronounce. If the Bible scares you, you’re not alone. A helpful place to start is reflecting on your weak spots. What are those sinful habits you’ve struggled to shake off? Anger? Deceit? Hatred? Laziness? Social media addiction? Gossip? Pornography? You know what it is for you. Whatever it is, figure out chapters and verses that talk a lot about those habits and study them at length. Let your Bible study match your current character needs.
#5: Find a new location
- Sometimes, your mind may just need a change of scene. I typically do my quiet time in my home office. Some days, I need to switch it up and move to my living room, other days, I’m pacing to around the large parking lot at our apartment complex. I have friends who love using cafes, others visit parks. Look around your neighborhood and find a cool new spot that can get you in the zone during your morning time with God.
I struggled to connect with the Bible for a very long time. There’s a series of Bible Studies that helped me understand how to use the Bible the way it was meant to be used. If you’d like to learn more, please click here.
