I have a big, loud, busy family and so quiet and rest are rare but highly valued commodities.

I figured out years ago that if I wanted any “quiet time” to myself during the day I had to make it happen and it had to happen before everyone else got up and got loud.

My routine is to have my coffee pot set on a timer to be ready when I get up, to sit on the corner of my sofa with the lights dim and do my best to begin my day out of stillness and listening and the word of God. My reality is that if I don't have my designated quiet place then quiet is very unlikely to find me during the day.

I'd like to suggest two little exercises for you this month if you are anything like me and have a really hard time with quiet and don't already do something similar. One is daily, the other weekly.

Daily - Find your spot. Maybe it's some place at your house or apartment or dorm. Maybe it's in the front seat of your car. Maybe it's at your office or a coffee shop. Make an appointment in your calendar for a “meeting” everyday. Show up and see what happens. (My bet is that God is already there.)

Weekly - Schedule, in your calendar, maybe Sunday, some time - even a few hours - to do something completely “other” than your regular stuff of the week. Hike, walk, nap, read something you don’t have to, create something, get coffee with someone… It doesn’t matter what it is except that it give you life and is not in your regular “have to’s”.

Our prayer is that you’d experience the Father, Son and Spirit in rich new ways and that you’d be re-freshed and re-oriented to enter the rest of your week.