Quiet Time

God is teaching me to be quiet.  If you know me, this is probably the funniest sentence in the world to you, because I am anything but quiet in real life.  Not only do I love to talk, I usually do it at a decibel level that is just slightly below the roar of a jet engine.  I can't help it, I was born that way.  When I was little my parents thought I had hearing loss or something, because I lacked that ever important inside voice.  But my ears are just fine.  It's my mouth that has the problem.. 

But, back to my point.  What you should know about me, other than my lack of volume control, is that I am a day person.  I do pretty well once I am up and going, but the minute I get home and have time to relax, I'm toast.  So, nighttime is not a good time for me to be praying or reading the Bible, because chances are I just won't.  And getting up any earlier in the morning is just going to make me angry, and I don't want to start my day off that way either.  I know that part of being a Christian is sacrifice, but Jesus also knows I need my sleep or I am not of any use to His Kingdom.  The question was "When would I be at my best to make full use of the Word and my prayer time?" I got two answers.  One was to listen to praise music on my way into work, like a primer for my day.  The second is to use my lunch time to read the Bible and write in my journal (which sounds a little classier than the spiral-bound notebook I use).   Which is where the quiet time comes in.  I have been using my lunch time this way for a couple of weeks now, and I love it.  Sometimes I consider a whole chapter of the Word, and sometimes just a verse.  Other times, like today, I make a list of prayer requests as God brings people to my mind.  What I love is the sense of stillness that comes over me during this time.  In fact, I was so still today that my motion sensor lights shut off in my room!  One of my favorite Psalms is 46:10, "Be still and know that He is God."  God's all about the lessons, and I'm just trying to learn.