My quiet time and morning routine

I’ve had some questions about what my morning routine looks like.

Some people don’t ask me about my morning routine but instead ask me about my quiet time. Since my quiet time is a part of my morning routine, I thought I’d include it all in one post.

I’ve had a morning routine and quiet time for the longest time (kinda). But I didn’t practice it daily.

There were days that I would give myself permission to not do my routine and quiet time; eg: I used to let myself ‘off’ on Sundays. Sundays are a day of corporate worship at church and a Sabbath to me anyway, so why do my morning routine when there’s a whole day where I can do all the things?!

But I discovered that skipping even just ONE day dishonors the commitment that I made to myself.

If I can skip one day, I can skip two. And if I skip two, it’s only a matter of time before I skip three …. and it’s all over. True to that, I find that if I skip my morning routine on the Sunday, I tend to wake up later than I plan to on the Monday. And that it takes a lot of discipline to get back into the routine on Tuesday.

So ever since I started practicing my writing SIDCHA, I decided that I was going to make my morning routine and quiet time a SIDCHA too. No negotiation.

I haven’t regretted it one bit.

So, to the actual routine!

I wake up at 4.45 am. I used to have my watch alarm wake me up by vibrating, but these days my body wakes up automatically. I do have a lamp next to me that comes on at that time - it glows red so that it’s not too sharp on the eyes and doesn’t wake hubby up, but I usually see it because I’m awake (rather than it waking me up).

Once I’m fully awake, I say the Lord’s Prayer while still in bed. Doing that grounds me and sets the tone for the day, even dictating how I get out of bed (not hurriedly but with ease). Then I get out of bed, go to the toilet, splash some cold water on my face, and put the kettle on boil.

Once the kettle boils, I fill my 1 L bottle with warm water (sometimes with a pinch of salt or a small dash of lemon juice) and make my coffee in a thermal cup. Over the next hour, I will drink that whole liter of water before starting on my coffee.

It’s usually 5 am by the time I’m done sorting out my drinks. From 5 to 6 am, I spend time with God. I usually start off with journaling. I document my thoughts, any dreams I may have had the night before, anything that’s on my heart, etc. And if I hear the Spirit’s response, I journal that too in a different color. The two color journaling is great when I look back at my past entries to determine my thoughts vs what God said to me.

There’s no formula to the rest of my time: some days I put on worship music and spend a lot of time worshipping. Some mornings I read a devotional, some days I study a passage, some days I just read the bible with no other aid, some days I sit in contemplation, some days I’m kneeling and praying, etc. There’s no rhyme or rhythm to it either, I tend to do what I’m led. The Lectio365 app often (but not always) plays a part during this time.

If I were to summarize my quiet time with God in the mornings in one phrase, it would be that I’m ‘wasting time with God’.

It’s not quite the right words to use, because time with God is never wasted. But it has the same connotation as the time we spend with our loved ones doing ‘nothing’. When we’re together but we’re not actively doing an activity or talking much, but we’re just together. It’s a wonderful time.

Note: My bible study times are separate from this; those are usually around lunch time, depending on the day.

At 6 am, I start work. I spend at least 30 mins writing and the remaining time working on any urgent work that popped up overnight.

At 7 am, I put my computer to sleep and go into full mom mode getting myself and the kids ready for the day.

And that’s that! Until the next morning, that is 😍