Shhhh…. I’m Trying to Read

Aug 6, 2010 by Spencer

Before we had any kids I had a great routine of doing my morning devotional/quiet time while eating breakfast. It was perfect, I had a quite house and time. I would read while eating then move the cereal bowl out of the way and then jot some notes and thoughts down. Then kids changed everything! Like so many areas of life this area changed drastically. When Andrew was first born he slept in past my normal quiet time and even if he did wake up early a bottle was all he needed but not anymore. Fast forward to today and now the boys are waking up earlier and there is more than just a bottle to warm up. Now it’s 3 bowls of cereal, 1 sliced bannana, 1 big boy cup of milk, 1 sippy cup of milk and 1 glass of OJ. Doesn’t sound to bad but this all must be done before the boys wake up (the free time I used to have in the mornings). Then when the boys wake up there are 2 diapers to change, 2 bibs to put on, and then the challenge of trying to minimize the amount of raisin bran that makes it to the floor. Combined this process takes up the time I used to have to myself. Andrew loves to talk and asks a question every 10.3 seconds. If I could focus for 8 seconds at a time and actually retain anything I guess it would still be possible to have devotions at breakfast but it would definitely not be considered “quiet time.”

So, I have tried to fit quiet time in different times of the day, on my lunch break, after the kids go to bed, right before I go to bed, nothing seems to work like first thing, well after my shower, in the morning. After letting this struggle go on for wayyyyyyy to long I decided to go to bed earlier and set my alarm little earlier so I could get my quiet time and breakfast ready before the boys wake up. That was Thursday night. So far I have had 2 successful mornings. That’s 2 for 5 if you are keeping score. Not exactly the batting average I was looking for. However, I am not discouraged because I know I am on the right track. I know this since the number one way to know you’re on the right track spiritually is that something will always try to mess you up. Now this is not quoted from the Bible but the truth is that if you aren’t trying to do what God wants you to do then the devil has no reason to disrupt the routine. But if you are, then watch out! My routine has been disrupted.

Both Andrew and Joshua are great sleepers, sleeping from 8pm to 7:30am. Like clock work for months. So the first night after I decide to set my alarm early and get up and focus on quiet time with God Joshua wakes up screaming at 4:30am and the screaming wakes up Andrew. I get them both calmed down and and back in bed by 4:50. Not too bad, I can still get up on time. But I never really went back to sleep, I kept watching the clock and then Joshua wakes up again at 5:30. This time there was no quick visit to the room. Somehow both boys made it out of the room and onto the couch and our bed. We virtually never do this so the boys just toss and turned keeping me (and Lindsay) wake. Since the boys were already wake any type of quiet time was out the window. Day one ruined.

Day two was a Saturday and the only day of the week my alarm gets turned off. So needless to say the boys slept fine because I wasn’t planning a quiet time that morning.

Day 3. Again Joshua wakes up early, about 6:50am, around the same time I am getting out of the shower to begin my quiet time. You can imagine how successful I was on Day 3. Going 0 for 3 and stumbling out of the starting gate I did not give up.

Days 4 & 5 have been great. I have woken up early and had a great quiet time with my Bible and God. I am working on getting up earlier but I need to ease into it. I have not been as successful as I hope to be on getting to bed earlier. But I can’t blame that on the boys

As for the study I thought it would be cool to jump start this new time with something completely new and different. A new way to read the Bible. So I am doing everything from my iPhone loaded with the Bible app from YouVersion.com. There are some really cool things you can do with a digital Bible that you can’t do with the traditional book version. I’m not sure how this experiment will work but I look forward to finding out. Look for another post about my experience with the “digital Bible” in the next couple of weeks.

Note: this post was written earlier in the week just not published until Friday.