Our friends Garratt and Sophia have the softest, coziest living room in the zip code. The ambient lamp lighting, knit textures, and neutral decor make you feel like you’re floating in a dreamy cloud. I sat there one Tuesday evening for our weekly church small group meeting, and as the time unfolded on that particular night, a few of us shared that we wanted to spend more time with Jesus. More time in His word. More time adjusting our minds and hearts to His Kingdom when we live in such a mixed-up, wacky world. 

This is the story of the hope and liveliness that came next. 

The truth is, we collectively admitted in that dreamscape of a living room, we need God very much. We need His presence. We need His guidance. We need His acceptance, love, and forgiveness every single day. 

Sometimes in our attempt to build a perfect time with Him, we lose sight of the fact He’s already with us, in us, FOR us. He is good, and He has good for us. Honestly, I think it’s as simple as remembering those truths. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make our quiet time—a time set aside to be with God—into an elaborate and complicated thing. But really, it’s very simple. Meditating on those truths. 

That evening, we shared honest questions. Why does it feel like a chore sometimes? Why does coming to Him with our whole selves, with our honest, authentic hearts in our hands feel hard? Why can it feel like something we have to do vs. something we get to do? 

The truth is that we are so blessed to have the Holy Spirit inside of us. To have the same God who created the Heavens and the Earth—who created colors and dogs and hugs and coffee and beauty—inside of us. On that Tuesday night, we all shared a desire to talk to Him more. And the fact we have access to the Bible lets me know that He wants to talk to us, too. 

We don’t have to conjure up some perfect plan or quiet time to get to His presence. It’s as simple as turning to Him and saying hello. As I stepped into this refreshed frame of mind after processing with our wonderful small group, these are the ideas that shifted my perspective (and then reality) to make my morning time with the Lord the most joyful and delightful part of my day. Let me know in the comments if one of these ideas encouraged you or if you’ve found anything else helpful!

001. It is an honor. 

The fact that the Holy Spirit is inside of me, that He desires me, that He wants to talk to me, and that He wants to listen to me is a gift I get to behold and treasure. Am I treating it—Him—like the gift that He is? I am so blessed to have a perfect, constant, faithful, all-powerful friend and Savior in Jesus. So above all, I started shifting my morning conversation with Him from this heart posture. 

002. He wants this FOR me, not FROM me. 

As we see so many times in the Bible, God doesn’t want our religious, legalistic actions or works. He simply wants our hearts, our pure worship, and our relationship. When I open my Bible in the morning, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can feel like I have to muster up some grand revelation, insight, or gleaning. Or that I have to work to get to Him. This is so the opposite of what He wants. He wants to lead me. To refresh my spirit with what He knows I need. This is not something I have to do. This is something I get to do. He wants to be with me. This is His gift to me. And I get to open my hands and receive it. What a miracle. 

003. Even 5 minutes can change my heart and my day. 

Another misconception I can slip into from time to time is that if I don’t have at least 15 minutes to really dig into a passage of scripture it won’t be worth it. This is also a false belief. God is God. He is able. He will take any and all time I give Him and use it for good. Five minutes in His presence can change everything. When I have slower mornings to take my time, that’s wonderful, but I’ve ditched letting limited time keep me from turning to my Wonderful Counselor for a single second. 

004. This is allowed to be fun. 

I think God connects with each of us in different, beautiful ways. For me, I love writing, drawing, and collaging, and I’ve accepted that I’m allowed to meet Him there. I am allowed to delight in Him, in how He made me, and in how I get to spend time with Him. It can be fun! At times, I found myself in a rut and tried to force myself to absorb large chunks of the Bible, when what I actually needed was to connect with Him in my heart, not my head. To bring some life and shared experience into the relationship. After all, He brought me from death to life, from ashes to beauty. And I am allowed to feel alive in how I connect with Him. If you need that reminder or permission today, there you go. 

005. One verse can move mountains and break chains. 

As I mentioned above, sometimes I felt like I “should” or “had to” read many pages of the Bible each morning. But stepping outside of that pressure, I realized that for me, personally, I need to process the words I’m reading slowly. I need to take them in gently to really notice what the text is saying about God, what it means for me, and how I might carry it with me through my day. I love writing out a verse or two in my journal and then jotting off notes and prayers from there with arrows, boxes, and bullet points. One verse can be just as powerful as reading a large passage. Plus, this is allowed to be fun, remember?! Colored pens and highlighters make unpacking a verse super fun for me. So I use them! You don’t have to but know that’s allowed if it makes the time more joyful. 

The bottom line here is that God wants to spend time with us. Through the power of His Son, He’s made it really easy for us to be with Him. If you’re still reading this, I have a hunch you want to spend time with Him, too. The practice is really simple; we often overcomplicate it. I hope these ideas and perspectives bring some freedom, joy, and hope to your quiet time with the Lord. We can “approach the throne of grace confidently so that we might receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We get to bring all our fears, concerns, worries, hopes, dreams, ideas, desires, goals, requests, praises, longings, and thank-yous to our good, good Father. He cares. He adores us. He’s in us. He’s for us. What more could we ask for?

I’m still stumbling, learning, growing, and trying again and again right alongside you. Drop what’s worked for you to cultivate your quiet time and/or what ideas you want to try in the comments below! Xo