Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live. Isaiah 55:3 (KJV)
I sleep with my cell phone on the nightstand beside my bed. The phone serves as my alarm clock. I also use it to pay bills and to communicate by email with my employer, book editors, and members of my writing circle. I use my phone to promote books and book signings on social media. I use it to connect with family and friends who post occasional pictures of sunny vacations, grinning grandbabies, and cake recipes they will never commence to bake.
While the technology makes me especially accessible to my aging mother, I have reached a resounding conclusion. With all its pings, beeps, and ringing notifications, my cell phone is a distraction. The prophet Isaiah said it is in “quietness” that we find our strength (Isaiah 30:15, KJV). So, each day after the alarm rings, I rise from bed. I mute my phone to pray, read a collection of devotionals, meditate on a Bible verse, and then I sit in silence. In silence I commune with my Creator, who owns infinite wisdom about all the things that will concern my day.
Sustained moments of silence before the Lord are as necessary to each morning as washing my face or combing my hair. In the silence, Jesus speaks to my heart, and I obtain clarity of mind. In the silence of the morning, I also remember blessings from the previous day, month or years past, and these precious memories fuel my heart with the strength to face present challenges. We should cloak each morning in a hush of quiet time with the Lord. It is the only way to be completely dressed.
Faith Step: Mute your phone this morning for thirty minutes. Sit in silence and ask Jesus to speak with you. Take notes and answer His call.
