Taking the Time.

Last night, I fought a battle. It was about 10:30pm, and I still had a ton of homework to do before the morning. And when I considered how much had to be finished by the week's end, I was even more overwhelmed. There's no time! whispered constantly at the back of my mind. I was going to be up late.

I hadn't had my devotional time yet, which I usually allot about an hour for. That's what the battle was about. I love You, God, but I'm really busy this week. An hour is just too much, today. Thankfully, God refused to relent, and I took an hour to push the homework aside and spend time with Him.

I'm not saying that if you miss out on your alone-time with God you're a terrible person and should feel guilty about it forever (I've skipped plenty of days myself, sometimes without even realizing it). And if it becomes merely something you do out of obligation, just going through the motions so you don't feel like a "bad Christian," that's not healthy, either--again, I know because I've been there, and continue to struggle with that "checklist" mentality.

Still, isn't it crazy how easy it is to make excuses not to make that time, despite all the time we make for everything else? Yes, I'm incredibly busy this week (I ended up working on homework until 2:30am this morning). But I made time for a lot of other things yesterday, before coming upon the temptation to not have my devotions: classes, practicing piano, calling a friend, Facebook, meals, my senior exit exam. I made time for these things because I had deemed them essential to my schedule. But when you stop and think about it, God is way more important than any of those things. Why do we treat God as unessential when He's the most essential of all?

That time I spent with Him during that hour last night was so good. He comforted me, sang over me, reminded me how small my problems are and how big He is. What a blessing I would have lost if I'd just skipped out on it! Sometimes we act like spending time with God is such an inconvenience, just another check on our list of Christian duties, but it's not like we're the ones doing Him a favor here--the time we spend with Him is for our own good. We end up so much happier, and fulfilled, and ready to face the world because of it.

So when you feel the urge to neglect spending time with God because you have too much on your plate, I encourage you to fight that feeling. No matter what it is that's overwhelming you, God is greater. He's not gonna let you drown. Just take a few moments to look into His eyes. Turning your focus away from the storm won't cause you to sink. Quite the opposite, in fact. This is how we are saved.