A Long Obedience ...

I have a confession to make, and hopefully putting it out here will make me accountable to do something about it. My devotional life has been very much lacking since Hannah was born last year. Since then I've had a hard time settling into a routine, something that I find very important in order to keep up a consistent quiet time, and with another baby on the way I am worried that it will only become worse. Soooo ... I've made it my goal that by next year at this time this will no longer be something I struggle with. I will have a consistent quiet time and it will be something I look forward to with anticipation most days (I could say all days, but I know that's unrealistic).

I wanted to choose a motivating devotional book to pair with Scripture to get me started. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson, is a book I have turned back to multiple times over the years. I bought it when I went to Urbana in 2000, and since the topic obviously relates to my current struggle I'm planning to start with it. If I remember correctly, each chapter deals with one of the ascension psalms (not sure if that is what they are actually called) that the Israelites would sing on their way to Jerusalem. Again, I'm a bit fuzzy on the historical details, but they are laid out in the book so they should become clear again within the next few days :)

I'm going to pick up a new journal this afternoon and get started. I'm still unsure of the best time, but I'm going to try scheduling it for early afternoon. Right after Hannah goes for her nap and Nathan goes for his rest time I'll plan to have my quiet time. I think one of my roadblocks has been that I have this vision in my head that I want to have my quiet time first thing in the morning. Ideally, that is true, and I've always had this notion of getting up before my kids and them waking up and finding me in my quiet time. However, at this stage in my life and given my personality and Peter's work schedule, I really have to give up on this bit of perfectionism and realize that it's more important to actually build my relationship with Christ than to worry about what time of the day I am devoting to quiet meditation. Since Hannah's nap happens at the same time 99% of the time, I figure it's one constant in our schedule that I can count on.