4 Ways to Find Quiet Time in Your Noisy Day

        

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." 

Matthew 6:33

 

I'm sure you laughed out loud when you saw the title with "quiet time" in it.  Trust me, I know.  I have three kids ages 6, 3 and 1 and sometimes our house is just...plain...crazy!  There's no quiet time going on around here, that's for sure!  In fact, I look at this picture and think:  "Will there ever be a day when I can grab a book and find a nice grassy spot and just read or journal?"  I know there will be, but right now that just doesn't seem possible.  Maybe you feel that way too! 

 

The truth is:  I value quiet time.  Since becoming a mom and since I've gotten older, I value quiet time now more than I ever have before!  I need quiet time to reset and refocus.  I value time with the Lord to refresh and regroup.  I want to hear His voice and feel His presence.  I want to have conversations with Him where I can truly share my heart as well as listen to what He has to say.  I'm sure you do too.  So, how can we as busy moms get the quiet time we need? 

 

Here are 4 Easy Tips I've learned to help you find quiet time in your noisy day:

 

1.  ADJUST YOUR DAY BY JUST 5 MINUTES:  Get up early (not for me, but it works for some!) or stay up later (I'd much rather do this!)  By adjusting your day by just 5 minutes on either side, you will have 5 precious moments to yourself to read, pray, journal, or just listen to God's voice!  Or you could even get up earlier and stay up a little later for a bonus 5 minutes each day!

2.  TURN OFF THE TV:  I know...I know...after the kids go to bed or after you come home from work or after you clean up the kitchen (or all of the above), you just want to veg out on the couch and do nothing too.  I'm not asking you to give up that time to relax--you deserve it, but before you turn on the TV, take just 5 minutes to be quiet and bask in His mighty presence! 

3.  DON'T TURN THE RADIO ON IN THE CAR:  I never turn on our radio in the car...well...mini-van.  In fact, I think at one point when my husband had driven the van and left the radio on, my daughter was surprised that there was music playing!  It was almost like she didn't even realize that the van could play music.  That tells you that I never have the radio on!  Why?  I need quiet.  The kids are loud enough the way it is.  I don't need to have extra noise on top of them!  Riding in the car is a great time for some silence.  That may sound crazy to you-especially those of you with young kids who are cranky or fighting in the back, but somehow I can tune them out...somehow, I can magically transform my mini-van driver's seat into a sound proof capsule where it's just me, God and the road!  Even when I'm the only one in the car, the radio is off...well, except for an occasional worship song or two! 

4.  TAKE AN ADULT TIME OUT:  After having my third child, I lost that beautiful two-hour naptime/quiet time that I once had in the middle of the day.  I lost that blissful two-hour I-can-get-caught-up-on-dishes-put-away-laundry-pick-up-the-house-and-have-time-left-over-for-facebook quiet time!  Between my youngest son's crazy nap schedule, my daughter giving up taking a nap altogether (because otherwise bedtimes were crazy!), and having to pick up my oldest at school, I lost that quiet time.  I lost it all!  I wondered why I was so drained and cranky by the end of the day, and I realized it was because I didn't have any quiet time!  So, lately, during my youngest son's 43 minute nap (ugh), I require that my daughter go down in the basement to watch her show so the house will just be quiet for a moment!  I needed that adult time out!  It is then that I can ask God to give me patience to make it through the afternoon.  And for moms who work outside the home, you can take an adult time out by having lunch by yourself sometimes so you can enjoy some silence and spend time with the Lord.

And if all else fails in the attempts to find quiet time in your noisy day, you can always remove all the noisemakers from toys and pretend you're just doing "surgery" on your child's bear like I did!   Aaaaaaah...silence!

Father-Thank you for giving us our children.  As noisy as they are, they are such a blessing to us.  Help us to find little pockets of time throughout our day to just be quiet and still before You!  Help us to seek You, Lord, in all we do as moms.  Allow us to hear Your voice and follow Your wisdom as we raise our noisy children to love you loudly.  And Lord, give us quiet moments even when it's not quiet.  In Jesus' name. Amen.







How do you find quiet time in your noisy day?