The quiet moments of Christmas

Quiet moments are rare these days, especially at Christmas. We live during a time in history when there is always something available to divert our attention. Have you noticed kids rarely say “I’m bored” anymore? Adults don’t say it very often either. We can always glance at a screen and find something interesting to fill our thoughts.

God said, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10). There is something about complete silence that fills our thoughts with the greatness of God.  

WebMD has an interesting article saying, “Even just five minutes of sitting quietly can have a transformative effect on your entire day.” The article paraphrases a quote from Blaise Pascal saying, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” 

How would a few moments of silence change our day?

Scripture says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Could it be that when people do not take time to be still, they forget there truly is a God? Is the pace and noise in our world one of the reasons for our statistics these days? 

The WebMD article encouraged five minutes of silence and then discussed all of the many things that can distract us from that time. The article suggested people focus on their breathing to gain a sense of silence. God would suggest we focus on the One who gave us the air and the ability to breathe. 

How would it change our day if we spent at least five minutes quietly thinking about God and all he has done for us? 

How would those moments change your relationship with your Creator? 

How would those moments change whom you spoke with or helped today? 

Five minutes with the Lord

People will spend an hour waiting for their children to see Santa this week. People will wait in long lines to check out just so they can purchase a gift for someone they care about. How long would you have waited in line at the Bethlehem manger if it meant you could have glimpsed the baby Jesus?  

Habakkuk 2:20 says, “But the Lᴏʀᴅ is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The veil was the thickness of a man’s hand. Only God could have “torn” it that way. God wanted us to know that, because of Jesus, we could come into his holy Presence. Christians can spend our “five minutes” of silence each day at the feet of the Creator God. 

We can be still and know God. We can recognize his perfect greatness and exalt him as our King. We can realize that he is our Abba Father and we are his children.  

If I could spend five minutes with my dad today, I would do whatever was necessary to be there. That five minutes would not feel like enough time, but I would do it every day if I could. Who would you love to spend five minutes with each day? 

We have the gift of God’s presence anytime we seek him. Words aren’t even necessary. We can just enter the holy temple and sit at his feet. He invited us to do that the moment his Son died for us. The God of the universe wants you to know him and spend time with him.

Just do it

Silence is a spiritual exercise. It doesn’t help to think about it; it only helps if you “just do it.” I’ve written before about becoming a “Nike Christian.” Sometimes the greatest weakness we have is that we “know” enough about God and we believe that means we actually “know” him. 

We can know God if we take the time to “be still and know” that he is God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). If we spend our moments of quiet for the sake of purifying our hearts and minds, we can enter the temple and “see God” with our hearts and minds. 

Paul taught that Christians should make their lives a “living sacrifice” in Romans 12:1. The next verse helps us understand how to do that: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). 

How would our minds be renewed and our lives be transformed if we stepped away from the world, even for just a few minutes each day, to sit quietly at the feet of our holy God?  

Don’t just think about it—do it.

Silence is strength for your soul

God told Isaiah to tell the people, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength, but you were unwilling” (Isaiah 30:15).  

It must be difficult for God to know he has our greatest help and is willing to give us all that we need. Yet he honors our free wills, even when we refuse his blessings.

How will your Christmas season change with quiet rest?

This might be the perfect time of year to discover a daily time of pure quiet rest in the Presence of God. We could develop a new habit that would carry us through the holiday rush and lead us into the next year knowing God in deeper ways. 

Will you choose now to spend five minutes of pure silence at the feet of God? 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Now, in complete reverent silence, climb the steps to the Holy of Holies and enter through the torn veil. God is there and waiting for you, his child. 

Be still, and know he is your God. Keep complete silence before him. You aren’t there to “ask” as much as you are there to listen. Remain at his feet, undistracted for at least five minutes. That time will change you as a result. 

Keep returning to the temple each day and that time with God will become your favorite time of the day. Remember: it is in “returning and rest” that God can accomplish his work in your life. Quietness and trust will become your great strength. And don’t we need that for the rest of the day! 

The only question left is will you just do it

The God of the universe, your Father, is waiting for your visit. Start with five minutes of complete silence each day and he will take it from there. He is a good Father and wants to bless and guide your life.  

God is worthy of our time, our praise, and our attention. 

Will you freely give all that he deserves? 

What did Jesus do that Wednesday?

I send this blog out on Wednesday morning. We celebrated Palm Sunday, tomorrow is Maundy Thursday, which leads to Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday worship. But Scripture is almost quiet about the Wednesday of Passion week. What did Jesus do that Wednesday?

Jesus stayed at the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany during Passion Week. Bethany is about two miles away from Jerusalem. The city would have been extremely crowded and chaotic during the Passover week. Jesus and his disciples walked those two miles each day to teach in the temple and then returned to Bethany for the night. We know what Jesus did each day of Easter week, except for Wednesday. That day has been called “silent Wednesday” by some scholars.

Many theologians believe Wednesday was the day spoken about in Matthew 26:14–16, the day Judas chose to betray Jesus. “Then one of the twelve disciples—the one named Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?’ They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him. From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.” What did Jesus do while his life was being sold for the amount commonly associated with the purchase price of a slave?

The disciples needed time to prepare for the Passover meal. Did Mary and Martha help with that? The Passover celebration required shopping, cooking, and planning. Was everyone bustling around Jesus with important preparations while he was praying for the strength to make an impossibly difficult sacrifice? I wonder if Jesus was looking at the faces of these close friends and disciples and grieving for what he knew they would experience after his death. I wonder if he grieved the fact that he would miss sitting with them each day, laughing, talking, and sharing ministry together.

I imagine Jesus taking time on Wednesday to retreat to a quiet spot so that he could sit with his Abba and pray. It’s impossible to fathom what it would have been like for Jesus to be God incarnate, indwelling the limitations of a human body. He understood physical pain, he felt humiliation, he expected his death would be a horrendous ordeal for his human body to endure. He also knew that he was about to accomplish the purpose he had been born to do. He was going to provide salvation for anyone who would choose to believe and make him Lord. What did Jesus pray about during that time with his Abba?

I wonder what his thoughts were about Judas that day. Judas Iscariot may have come to his mind often that Wednesday. It is human to grieve those who are outside God’s control and blessing. Some of us grieve for those same reasons during Easter week. How did Jesus pray for the man that would betray his friends and his Messiah?

This blog post arrives at your computer on Wednesday mornings. If it is still early, and you are making plans for the day, how will you choose to spend your Wednesday of Easter week? Are there preparations for Easter you need to accomplish? Is there someone who doesn’t want to share this holiday with you? Are there loved ones who only want Easter to be about pastel colors and a bunny? Is there a family member, friend, or neighbor you need to pray for today?

Maybe we should spend some of this day like Jesus did. Is there time in your schedule to simply turn the world off, take a walk, and spend some time with your Abba? If you are reading this on your office computer, take time during lunch or during the drive home to simply quiet your heart and think about what Jesus did that Wednesday—and the significance of the events in the days that followed.

Why doesn’t Scripture tell us what Jesus did that Wednesday? Maybe because it was the day Jesus chose to spend privately with God. Maybe we can consider doing the same. Your Abba would love to have that time with you . . . there is something he wants to tell you.

I wish you and yours a blessed and holy Easter. . .


This blog post was originally published on April 11, 2017 during Holy Week.

5 Tips for a Stronger Summer Soul

I’m done teaching my Bible study for this year, and so I’m writing this article for my own sake as much as yours.

It’s a lot easier for me to stay close to the Lord when I have to teach his Word each week. I usually spend a lot of time studying and preparing lessons as well as praying for the wisdom to teach them. Then summer rolls around and I spend less time relying on God and more time enjoying my coffee.

I want to do a better job enjoying both!

Now, I’m all for a summer break. We need some downtime once in a while. I will start to write next year’s Bible study in a couple of weeks and that will help. But, there are a few things that I try to do, especially in these summer months, to keep my soul inspired and God’s direction front and center each day. I thought I’d share those ideas with all of you.  

These are my ideas, but I would love to hear some of yours. Use the comment section or our Facebook link to share your thoughts.

1. Rise early.

“Joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  

The summer days are longer, but they will also get hot (especially in Texas). I like to have my first cup of coffee early, while I read The Daily Article, my husband’s morning essay, and the First15 devotional, written by my son.

Most of you probably get these already, but if you don’t, you should! Spending your time with these words about God will often inspire a word from God.

How do you take that word into your soul?

Put on comfortable shoes and start walking. Consider what God has spoken to you, and, chances are, God will speak words through you that day.

We all need to consume God’s thoughts if we want to have a well-fed soul.

2. Go to bed early.

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2).

This is an obscure verse of Scripture, but it shouldn’t be!

Have you ever stopped to consider why we were created to need sleep?

God didn’t have to create us with that need, but he did. A ton of studies discuss the importance of sleep to our physical bodies, but have you ever thought about the benefits of sleep to our souls?

God can speak to us as we dream. Have you asked him to?

A good night’s sleep is healing to every aspect of our lives. We weren’t meant to work and toil all day. God wants us to rest, and to rest in him.

Give God your dreams, and, each morning, as you are thinking about what you have dreamed, ask God what he might be speaking to your soul.

3. Spend time on your friendships.  

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and not another to lift him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).

There are so many people in this world I would love to know better. I wish I knew all of you, for example!

But there are only twenty-four hours to a day, and there are a lot more acquaintances in our lives than there are friends.

Heed King Solomon’s words: don’t just spend time with friends; spend some time on your friends.

Our friends should not just be good company. They should be people who strengthen our walk with the Lord and bless our souls—and we should be that kind of friend to them as well.

4. Experience God in an ancient, new way.  

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

These are familiar and favorite verses. God’s people have been sharing God’s wisdom for centuries. Add something to your spiritual journey that is ancient wisdom but new to you.

There are books of Christian quotes, websites with old sermons, and Christian novels written decades ago. There is something particularly refreshing to our souls to read words that God inspired in the past that are still his truth today.

God is timeless and timely. If he inspired truth one hundred years ago, it is still truth today.

5. Take time to enjoy God’s warmth.  

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

I have to admit, I love the warmth of summer. I love warm weather, flowers, vacations, swimming, and long, lazy walks on a beach. I love the sun on my toes and a great novel in my hands. I love long days and a slower work schedule.

And I love that I have time to just love the One who provides it all.

Fall will arrive, if Jesus doesn’t. I would love for all of us to look back on these summer months with gratitude for the time we spent just enjoying our God. He would enjoy our enjoyment. Our souls were made to find joy in our Father.

Your soul was created to enjoy its Creator. And he wants to spend these summer days with you, joyfully present in your life.

Strengthen Your Summer Soul

Those are my tips, and you can go to my website or Facebook page to share yours.

The summer months will come and go. Don’t you want to use them to strengthen your soul?

If you are like me, then some weeks will probably be better than others—but I’d like to have more of those great weeks. God gave us the season we call summer. He had to have a perfect reason! Let’s plan to enjoy the days ahead because we trust that God has a plan to strengthen our souls with his joy.