As a writer, I’m always looking for things that would be good illustrations or ideas for a book, and lately I’ve tried to bring that attentiveness to my daily life, to notice what God is up to. While working on Morning with Jesus, I realized I can’t separate my “devotional life” from my “real” life. It’s all connected. As John Ortberg once said, “God is not interested in your ‘spiritual life.’ He’s interested in your life. All of it. He intends to redeem it.”
Jesus is my focus most of the time when I’m in a noticing mood. Even when I’m in the midst of making a mistake, I’ve trained myself to stay highly aware of him. I really try to bring him to mind throughout the day—to live in a way that I “practice the presence” of Jesus.
For many years my quiet times were anything but “quiet”—instead they were noisy with me talking to God. As I’ve gotten older they’ve become more about listening—to Scripture, to God’s voice, and to my self.
Don’t see it as obligation, but privilege. Jesus is longing to meet with you, he has so much he wants to tell you. Don’t come to him out of guilt, but because of his great love. Bring your whole self—your doubts, mistakes, joys and sorrows.
My prayer for our Mornings with Jesus readers, family and friends is for us all to see Jesus’ love for us, that we may fall deeply in love with him, over and over again, every moment of every day. I’ll be praying for us all to learn to carry his presence in our hearts always.
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