Glow

Today I woke up, ate breakfast, puttered around on the computer, dug through our bookshelves, decided to re-read an old Nancy Drew book, got 3/4 of the way finished with it, set it down, looked for something interesting to do, finished a magazine of my mom's, moaned that I was bored, sat and continued moaning for at least another hour, took pictures for my mom of furniture that we're fixing to sell, got lectured by my mom for aforementioned moaning, and then went and laid down on our upstairs couch.

I felt drained. And dim. And empty.

Bored? Yes, I was that. But I could have found something to do. I thought for a while about what was really bothering me. Then, it hit me.

I didn't do my devotional time this morning.

During D-Now this year (see previous posts) we talked about the basic disciplines of Christianity. One of them was "quiet time." I know, it sounds juvenile, and I've been told to have one daily at least a bajillion and three times by my sunday school teachers, youth leaders, etc. And for the record, I do a fair job of keeping up with mine.

But I hadn't really been doing them every day, and I hadn't been excited about them. I was just taking part because I was supposed to. So I decided that I would start doing them in the morning again, for just 7 minutes.

And I realized that the reason I've been told to do these devotional times a bajillion and three times is because they are so important. They are a time of peace before the frenzy of the day begins, before frustration sets in, before problems start. And they bring me joy! I like them.

Yesterday, I overslept and skipped.

Then, today, I forgot again.

No wonder I felt like I was running on empty. Because, technically, I was.

I dove into one of my favorite passages of the Bible right away - Psalm 42 - and felt refreshed right away. Because God is awesome like that. He instantly energizes me.

Suddenly, I didn't feel so drained anymore.

I can't wait for tomorrow morning. I am not missing out again!