"The Quiet Time"

In religious circles, the term "quiet time" has spiritual understanding of time alone spent with God with little distractions. Ironically, for most who carve out this time with God, it's not really quiet. We either tend to talk the whole time to God or have a little music playing in the background or the TV barely up enough to catch a few words.

In a household that includes my wife and three children under the age of 10, there is not much that is considered quiet time. Yes- even after the kids are in bed, we tend to have a couple of televisions on or music playing in the background. We even have a couple of fans that run all night on low for some background noise to sleep. Fast forward to this week - my whole family is at summer camp in Virginia. Wow- very different around the Qualls' house. Just Chewy and me and he doesn't even bark!!!

Sometimes "quiet times" make us uncomfortable. A few weeks ago as I was speaking at South Pointe Fellowship (where I am pastor); I stopped speaking on purpose for 10 seconds. It seemed like an eternity and you could tell some were uncomfortable with it. In our fast-paced society, I think we have allowed this "noisy" world to desensitize us to the point where we expect to be stimulated 24/7. The result of this is that many of us are uncomfortable with times of silence and miss out on time spent with God alone allowing Him to speak with us.

I can't wait for my family to return this week and all the noise that accompanies them. However, I do think my "quiet week" has taught this 38 year old pastor a few things about cutting out the distractions in my life and having a true "quiet time" with Him. May we all come to a place of not just hearing God, but really tuning in and listening to His still, small voice."