I like quiet.  I find I can focus better and can be more productive in a quiet environment than in a noisy setting. As I type this, I have been trying for a good ninety minutes to write today’s post and here we are at sentence number three. It’s been one interruption after another, completely constant with no quiet.

I chose this time to write this post on purpose as I knew it would be difficult for me.

We live in a world that is full of noise and distractions that makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to be able to pause or reflect, contemplate or meditate on the important things in life.

My soul craves quiet. It’s where I find my refuge and where I am able to pray to God and study His word with clarity of thought and an attentive heart.  I often find myself awake at night while my family sleeps, and I read the Bible, or pray, or sometimes write on my tablet.  Other quiet times, include early in the morning before my family wakes up, or sometimes in the evenings I can find some quiet.

I like the story of Elijah hearing God’s voice in 1 Kings 19:11-13. God’s voice wasn’t heard in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. God’s voice was heard as a gentle whisper.  If He whispers, then we need to be quiet to hear Him.  A whisper is easily lost in a lot of noise.

Prayer is as much about listening as it is about speaking. Actually, I’m going to retract that and instead say this – Prayer is more about listening than it is about speaking. I’m going to be focusing this month on writing about prayer and I thought I would start with quiet times because if prayer includes listening, and God’s voice can be heard as a whisper, then we need to listen carefully and we need to be still and quiet to hear Him.

Psalm 46:10, “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;’”. Sometimes it’s difficult to be still. I’ve struggled through prayer times where I have thoughts constantly running through my head about things I need to get done, or challenges I’m trying to figure out.  Times of prayer where I think I’ve spent more time apologizing to God for getting distracted again, than I have in praying the way I intended to.

I don’t think God minds me getting distracted during prayer nearly as much as He would mind it if I chose not to pray because it’s just too difficult to be still and quiet.  I think God wants us to try, even when it’s hard for us. I think He wants us to work and put effort into building our relationships with Him. It’s through expending effort that we learn and get better at things.

Think about a young child learning to walk. They fall – a lot! The only way a child learns to walk is by trying again, and then again, and then one more time.  Slowly, with many attempts and much effort, each of us learns to walk.  Because of this, I am convinced that the way to a better prayer life and a deeper relationship with God is through persistent and consistent effort on our parts.  God has already done His part to build relationship with us by providing the sacrifice of His one and only Son and He’s waiting for us to accept Him, to reach out to Him, and to build our relationship with Him.

As I’ve read through the gospels and about Jesus life while He was here on Earth, I’ve noticed that Jesus frequently withdrew to quiet places to pray.  If Jesus needed quiet, how much more do I need the quiet to hear from God and to pray to God.

One of my goals for 2014 includes a more consistent quiet time with God. It’s so easy to get distracted, or to run out of time, or to forget, or, or, or…. Time is short and life is flying by. It’s time for me to be focused on the things that are truly important in this life and one of the things my great-grandmother told me was that there is NOTHING on this earth that is more important than my personal relationship with Jesus. I believe she is absolutely correct!

If you’ll excuse me now, I think I’m going to pack up and leave this noisy place and find somewhere nice and quiet! Here I come Lord!

Be blessed!