So often when I set out to cultivate space for quiet and recentering I’ve entered into it with my heart chasing after the wrong things. I find myself viewing daily devotional time with a star chart sort of mentality, rather than an earnest desire to be shaped and transformed by God. I set out focused mostly on what I’m doing and how consistent I’m being. But if I am coming to my quiet time with a desire to prove my value and goodness, then I’m not fully understanding what this is about.
We have so many other systems of earning and proving ourselves in our lives, that it’s become a habitual way of thinking. But our spiritual lives don’t operate by these same rules. What matters is that we make ourselves quiet and available to hear the voice of God and that we abide in God’s presence. We don’t have to concern ourselves as much as we think about our efficiency in those moments. We don’t have to obsess over if our quiet moments are useful enough. We practice them.
Intentional quiet time is about bringing ourselves to a space where our hearts can be shaped more like the heart of God. We are not the shapers, but the shaped. The faithfulness to these daily moments stems from a recognition of my need to dwell in God’s presence, not about proving myself or my goodness. It’s so much more than a check mark on my to do list. It’s what recenters me and my purpose to encourage me to complete all the other to do list items in love.
In Celebration of Discipline, Richard J. Foster talks about the intentions of practicing spiritual disciplines. I love the analogy he uses in the following quote,
“A farmer is helpless to grow grain, all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of the grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of earth take over and up comes the grain…This is the way it is with spiritual disciplines—they are a way of sowing to the spirit…By themselves the spiritual disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”
I find this perspective of quiet time so helpful. Because it so beautifully articulates where our efforts meet God’s gracious work in our lives. It expresses the importance of the disciplines, but that even with all of the proper disciplines, we cannot redeem ourselves. God is the one who transforms us, as we make ourselves available for transformation.
Create in me a pure heart and free me from the constant paradigm of earning my value. Train my heart and my mind to pursue you in humility, rather than as a recipe to transform myself. With each day, help me to become a more accurate reflection of Your image in the world.
