i hate Quiet Times.

Yes. I said it. I hate Quiet Times.

'Is she a Christian?!' you exclaim. Don't you worry you're pretty little head. I have good reason for hating them.

I've recently had many conversations in which the level of our relationship with Jesus is measured upon whether or not we've done Quiet Time regularly or not.

Me:"How are ya?"

and because I'm a 'student minister', the conversation goes like this... :-)

A lot of people lately: "You mean with Jesus?"

Me: Well... I mean, I guess. I was just askin' how ya are.

people lately: Well, my relationship with Jesus isn't very good lately.

Me: Why do you say that?

People lately: Well, I haven't done Quiet Time in a long time.

These conversations stirred my soul a little bit... and I became convicted of a mind set that I see in myself and also in the people I journey with. Where in the Christian world did we get this idea that our closeness with God is dependent on whether or not we have done Quiet Time? I'm feelin' like I'm beginning to understand Paul when he talks in the Epistles about how we keep reducing Jesus to this obligation or that, and we put measurements on how our relationship with God is, to which he emphatically responds, "If your relationship with God is based on what you're accomplishing or you're not accomplishing, the cross meant jack squat!"

Jack Squat.

That's right. This kind of Quiet Time means Jack Squat.

(don't stop reading yet.)

I have decided from searching out The Good Old Book, and not church tradition, that I don't believe in a God who withdraws Himself from our lives completely, who severs our relationship with Him if we don't sit for 15 minutes with Him a day.

Nor do I believe in a God who is pleased with us acknowledging Him for 15 minutes a day.

Here's what I do believe:

Jesus lived daily with his disciples doing everyday stuff with them. He ate with them, he was next to them when they were hangin' out with people, he went to and fro to whatever was next in busy days with them. Not just as a tag-along... a good buddy... but as someone who was guiding, directing, teaching, enjoying, laughing, crying... experiencing all of life with them. Giving them the strength and hope to keep going, giving them the ability to gut-laugh b/c of a deep trust, and giving them the ability to know and love people on a whole new level.

He did not ask them to stop by his pad for 15 minutes a day... 30 minutes if they were extra close. Nope, he went through their days with them. He certainly asked for their attention, and sometimes he certainly wanted them to shut up for a bit and listen to Him. But he never left when they were done in their quiet moments together. He went out with 'em.

And He was the man-version of the Spirit that's inside of me as my nails tap the key board. And inside of any person who has chosen to open up their vulnerable and fragile soul-house to his Spirit to make at home.

I wonder if Jesus hates Quiet Time too. I wonder if he hates that we open our flesh up to His Spirit inside us for only 15 minutes a day. I'll just bet that He wants our days to be an opportunity for spiritual formation in little choices throughout the day... lovin' on people, learnin' a little patience on the road, being faithful to authority by finishing a homework assignment... letting His Spirit flesh itself out in our minds, in our emotions, and in our wills. And definitely taking some time in our day to sit before Him in some one-on-one time, reflecting on what we've let Him do with our day and what we would like to see Him do and listen for the things that don't even cross our mind that He wants to do. Maybe we take some time and check out some people who were walkin' the road by the Holy Spirit in The Word, refreshing our souls with the human accounts of the Fullness of the Spirit in Jesus. But maybe our intentional time with Him is just that. Intentional time. Not the only time. Like I can spend a whole day with Kevin, but it's when we sit on the front porch and probe each other's thoughts, was it intentional. We built on our relationship all day, in different ways... but one way is to be intentional with out on one time.

Quiet Time sucks. Learning to listen and walk by the Spirit the Cross paid for doesn't. Taking time in our day for one-on-one time with Him doesn't. But quarantining Him to that time does.

I hate Quiet Time. I love learning to live a life in Jesus.