When I was a teenager, I was very disciplined in my quiet time with the Lord. I did the exact same routine each morning: I would get ready for the day and then sit on my bed with my Bible and a devotional book. With the door closed, I would read and spend time alone with God. This was the same every single morning for years. All that changed when I got married. Suddenly, I shared my room with someone. We were living in a very tiny apartment, so there wasn’t anywhere to go to be alone and to be honest, I loved being around him all the time. Yet in this sweet newlywed season, there was a weighty guilt for not having the quiet time that I had been so faithful in. Rather than that guilt spurring me on to find a new way of connecting with God, I instead felt stuck in not knowing the right thing to do.

After a few years of trying different spiritual practices and rhythms, I finally found something that worked for me. It was still in the morning, still in a state of quiet and stillness. Then I started having children. A newborn does not care about your quiet time. A toddler does not care that you would like to be alone. Once again, I had to find a new way of being with God. This time, I carried additional guilt that mornings just were not working for me. It can seem in some Christian circles that the most important element of a believer’s relationship with the Lord is quiet time in the morning. In this stage of life, though, I knew mornings were simply not possible. I was already not getting enough sleep, and to wake up earlier would just be unhealthy. It was time to work out a new way of being with the Lord, again.

I have since found a new rhythm. It might not work for me forever, but it’s what works now. Reflecting on my experience, I wonder how often we allow ourselves to become stagnant in our spiritual growth because we are trying to replicate rhythms and patterns that don’t work for our current season of life. What we did 10 years ago might no longer match our current stage of life. Maybe our living situation has changed. Maybe our work, community or health looks different. Rather than carrying guilt or doing nothing at all, invite the Spirit to show you what new spiritual rhythms and practices can look like in this season. If you’re caring for small children, then perhaps it looks like noticing how God speaks to you through the act of caring for them. If you are newly single, it might be a season for finding a small group or a friend with whom you can share openly. The changing of seasons in life can be filled with great joy and excitement. They can also be filled with grief and anxiety. Imagine the new ways in which we might come to know the Lord if we embrace the differences of our current season.

Engage

• How would you describe your current season of life?
• Are your current spiritual practices (prayer, Bible reading, community, solitude, etc.) working for you in this season?
• If you are ready to try something new, begin by considering when in a day, a week, or a month you feel closest to the Lord. Where are you and what are you doing at those times? Consider how you can slowly begin incorporating more of this into your daily or weekly rhythms.

Supporting Scripture

“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain” (Isaiah 54:10).

Photo: Forrest9/Getty Images