Finding the ever-elusive quiet time to grow

I've gone through so many phases in my search for the elusive quiet time.

As the spring / summer season gets into high gear, I'm able to get outside again which is hands-down my favorite way to go. I get up early, set the baby monitor on the deck, and sit outside bonding with birds and squirrels and the occasional cat while spending some quality time with God. I like these mornings so much I could let them go all day, but alas, the little, noisy ones are often the ones who wake up first and my quiet praise is interrupted by gleeful exclamations of: "Carolina wren bird! See? Tea-kettle!!Look, Mommy!!"
Now, don't get me wrong-- I recognize the praise in that. But that doesn't make the interruption less painful.

In the past I've tried it all, from getting up before sunrise to hiding out in the bathroom to forbidding speaking before a certain hour, and everything in between. Nothing seems to work as long as I'd like it to, so my personal devotional time has taken on three qualities.

First, it's fast and condensed.
Second, it's usually outside
Third, it is usually recorded, so that I can go back and remember the whirlwind graces later.

Also, since I'm usually nursing a baby, there are times and seasons. Sometimes all I can do is hold a tiny bible in one hand while I sit on the couch, and other times all I can do is read something on the computer. Or listen while I'm out running. Sometimes all I can do is pray the rosary on my fingers while soothing a fussy baby. Sometimes all I can do is read a ten-second passage or recite a memory verse while I'm scrubbing dishes, and meditate on that.

One has to be flexible and ready to listen for the Holy Spirit wherever He wants to speak. If we make an idol out of our quiet time, God will take it from us. In a sense, motherhood is a great gift, because while it makes quiet time with God next to impossible, it frequently reminds us that too much introspection and self-help is the opposite of what we need. We need to put others first, to walk away from sin, to see Jesus in the weak, the poor, the sick, and the aggravating. This is why when I wake up, the first thing I do is roll out of bed and do a spiritual pushup, exclaiming: "Serviam! (Let us serve!)" just like one of my favorite Saints, Josemaria Escriva. Sometimes, that's ALL I get the entire day. And that's OK.

Developing a habit of regular family prayer has made a huge impact in this area. It feeds my personal quiet time and in turn forms the family prayer time. Should I miss a quiet time it gives me that slow-down-and-pray time in which insight seems to just come.

As a family, we pray daily morning and evening prayer and study the catechism or read saints biographies together. My husband and I pray together at the end of the day on days he is home. And in the evening, we do a family bible study. We also have a weekly prayer group with friends AND a monthly discipleship encounter.

But even with all that, I have found that I REALLY need a personal, one-on-one, quiet time with God. And while I would rather it be a power hour out on the deck with my Bible, even just five minutes in the bathroom has been incredibly helpful.

There are several techniques that have really helped me.

The first is one I usually reserve for times of crisis and deep prayer. Usually it has to do with me having questions--- I want some answers from God. I write down my question, and as the week goes by and I listen for the "still, small voice" I record quickly what I hear. Then I am able to form a picture that is clear in my mind of what God is saying about a particular situation.

For every day, I do a simple Bible devotional-- one on my own, and one with my family, usually led by my husband. I try to encourage my children, as they get older, to make time for personal study too.


The SOAP method goes very well with inductive Bible Study, which is my favorite type of Bible Study. As opposed to deductive Bible Study (when you begin with a subject and work backwards to see where Scripture has something to say about it and what), inductive Bible study takes a passage and lets it speak to you. While I use deductive Bible Study methods when I know it is time to teach on a topic, the rest of the time I use inductive Bible Study in my personal quiet time and practice Lectio Divina with the children, which is basically the same thing.

SOAP includes the following steps:
Scripture
Open with a short prayer, and read a passage in your Bible. Write the verse or verses that stand out to you in your reading in your journal.

Observation
What did you observe about the scripture that struck you? If you're using the inductive method, at this point you would mark your Bible with symbols to visually represent what you are reading. Can you make lists of things you notice or compare? If you are not using the inductive method, simply write in your journal what  you have observed in the passage.

Application
How can you apply the observation so that it affects your life today?

Prayer
Write out a prayer to God based on what you just learned and ask him to help you apply this truth in your life.

Or, for an easier, simpler method, you can try The GOAL method. Every morning sit down and work systematically through your Bible, record the following four things you find in the passage you are reading (I do this when I wake up late or am short on time):

GRASP
Grasp this promise.

 OBEY
Obey this command.

 AVOID
Avoid this sin.

LIVE
 Live this principle.

Later in the day, you can encourage this same thing with your children by using Lectio Divina:

My good friend, a seminarian, wrote these two formats for the use of my homeschooling co-op and we find it very effective.

He says:
A lesson using Lectio Divina might follow one of the following formats:

1) Extended Session (20-45 minutes)
a) Introduction, explanation, and lectio (10-15 minutes)
b) Meditation, students pick a word, phrase, or image and write a meditation (10 -25
minutes)
Afterwards, student can share what they wrote.
c) Contemplation (1-2 minutes, maybe more in some circumstances)
You can have either silence or classical music playing. Students should be
encouraged to “talk with Jesus about what they wrote.” Also, as to avoid distractions,
students should close their eyes.
d) Oratio (1 minute) The teacher can close with a brief spontaneous, vocal prayer and a
formal prayer with the students such as a Glory be, Hail Mary, or other appropriate
prayers.

2) Short session (5-10 minutes, to be used at the beginning or end of class)
a) Read the passage and have students pick a word, phrase or image (1-2 minutes).
b) Ask a couple of students to share what they picked (1-2 minutes)
c) Then a brief silence (1 minute) and then a vocal prayer to end (1 minute).
The short form could be used throughout the day as a focus activity to begin class.

Ultimately, the whole point is to be steeped in the Word, however it comes to you, hearing it clearly through the crazy, bustling rhythm of a busy family life. However it works, however it comes, making time for Him each day has been the only way I've been able to find peace.