I have a confession to make. For the past few years, Bible reading- that wasn't just stuck randomly into the cracks of life- has been a real struggle for me. When Cate and Grace were little, and I had long, long days at home with no car, and hours to try to fill, it was not difficult to spend time with God each day. It was usually during the kids' nap time that I read dozens of Christian books, journaled all the time, read and studied the Bible, and prayed; and during those endless days at home I made a conscious effort to make sure I was teaching my girls about Jesus, too. By the way, I used the same materials for them then that I still use now- if you're curious, our favorites, among others, are: reading The Picture Bible, Arch Books and My Bible Friends; listening to Your Story Hour, Adventures in Odyssey, and Agapeland Music; and watching The Donut Man and Nest Bible Videos.
Anyway, I didn't realize then that the day would soon come when I would not be able to remember the last time I was bored. I think it was around the time that Evie, my fourth child, was born, that I became really, really busy. Busy with the most wonderful things, because I began homeschooling Cate and Grace in earnest, my husband and I began to lead a small church, and we began to forge lifelong friendships with a couple of other families. With each passing day I began to love my life more and more and began to realize that killing time, so to speak, was becoming an activity of the past. Every night I'd get in bed and wonder where in the world the day had gone.
Oh, how I love to be busy. I love having our friends (I'd say company, but that's just too fancy of a word for what it is) over a few nights a week and the church activities that we go to that take up another three nights. I love my time with the kids during the day- monitoring schoolwork and piano practice, driving them to lessons while listening to the latest book on Audible, trying to keep the house somewhat maintained throughout the day, knitting or blogging or crafting or reading when I can. When I put it like that, it's crazy to think that all of that happens every week!
Somewhere in those years, those couple of hours of quiet time each day disappeared. My regular time of Bible reading each day became sporadic and inconsistent at best, not because I didn't want to read the word, but because there just seemed to be no time for it. Quite a few months back I was praying and feeling convicted about needing to spend more time with God. I told God He was on my to-do list, but I had no clue how I was going to add "one more thing" to that ever growing list of stuff that needed to get done- how could I possibly add Him in?
In no uncertain terms, I felt God tell me, "I am not just 'One more thing' that you need to check off each day! I'm supposed to be the most important thing in your life!"
True.
What was I to do? My days were no longer the carefree, empty ones I'd had years ago. Outside of a crazy revamping of my schedule and neglecting my family and my kids' education, there was no way I was getting back those 2, 3, 4, hours a day I'd had in the past to spend time with God.
During all this time, I knew I was walking close with God, and I knew He loved me, and that I loved Him. But when I felt His pull on my heart, so often I told Him, like I sometimes needed to tell my husband, or one kid or another, "You're just going to have to trust that I love you, and you're going to need to wait."
But it was becoming obvious, and had been for some time, that spending time in the Word was not just going to happen on its own. But where to even begin?
I have my husband to thank for preaching a sermon about giving God your first fruits. This was something the Israelites were commanded to give to God, the rest they kept.
Deuteronomy 26:2"That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there."
Exodus 22:29 "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me."
I realized that God wasn't asking me for every last minute of my time. In fact, He expected nothing like that. After all, He was the one who gave me a family, and children in the first place and then called me to love and care for them. He knew my responsibilities. He had given me my to-do list.
But the truth was that I did need to give God more of my time, and not just more of it, but the very best of it- the first fruits.
So practically- what does that mean? What is the best of my time? I don't know what it is for every one else, but the first fruits of my time is the very first part of the day. I had been getting up earlier and earlier, pretty consistently around six o'clock, in an effort to get my busy days going sooner. I'd wake the kids at 6:30 and sit them down immediately in front of their schoolwork or on a piano bench. Our days went like this all day long, going from one activity to another, squeezing meals and house cleaning in between.
Was I willing to give God those precious morning minutes? Was I willing to sacrifice the first minutes of the children's day as well, teaching them to follow my example of giving God the first fruits of their day?
Of course, the instant the question was asked, the answer was obvious, though I admit I still felt dubious. Yes, I would commit to try it.
How can I describe the difference this has made in our lives? I can't believe the peace and patience I feel in my heart throughout the day just by taking the time to read my Bible in the quiet of the morning. I can't explain it, but I've found myself waking up even earlier many days, on my own, closer to 5 or 5:30, and I actually feel more rested now then when I would try to sleep in till the last possible minute. When the kids wake up, or I wake them, around 6:30 or so, the older ones pick up their Bibles and journals, the middle ones generally read The Picture Bible on their own (it is our goal, as parents, to have our kids read through The Picture Bible many, many times), and I read to the little ones. Sometimes I read to them out of my Bible, sometimes from Arch books, and sometimes I start breakfast and have them listen to one of our Bible stories on cd instead. Around 7:00 I tell everyone we are done and to get started on the day.
The first week we tried it, at the end of the week I was thinking about what a great week it had been, and how most everything got done that needed to. The following week, I thought the same thing. I marveled for a moment about how smoothly life had been going. It was only then that I remembered that over the last two weeks, I had begun giving God the first fruits of my time. Now three, four, and five months later, I can't just chalk it up to coincidence. How can those few minutes a day be so life changing? I'm not sure, but I'm also not sure how a couple loaves of bread and fish could feed a crowd of thousands. At the time, the disciples asked Jesus, "But what are these among so many?" Clearly, those few were plenty.
No, of course everything isn't miraculously perfect and we still have our times of anger, frustration, or laziness during the days. Of course. I still feel scattered much of time. There's no way around that. But I will honestly say that giving God the best, and first part of my day, every single day, has been one of the most life changing things I can remember in recent years. If you are a busy mom, or even just a busy person (and who isn't?) and you have struggled with spending time with God's word, I would encourage you to try this. Sometimes you might have hours to spare, sometimes less than a half hour. If you don't think you have time in your mornings as they are, then consider setting your alarm just thirty minutes earlier and giving that time to God. I truly believe you will not regret it. Six months ago I didn't see how I could possibly spare the scattered, chaotic, first thirty minutes of my day to just spend quietly with God. Now I wouldn't trade that time for the world.
