Quiet times/personal times with God

[muddaofsuburbia]

Mine have flown out the window since having ds.

Anyone else find that their discipline is lacking or in my case non-existent? What works for you - morning/evening? What bible notes do you use if any?

Inspiration and encouragement would be fab. Cheers

Sorry, not much inspiration or encouragement to offer, just the knowledge you are not alone! Even finding it hard to get to church since DS2 arrived (he is 10 months and we've been twice!) I'm a bit of a control freak at heart, and since our service goes on from 10.30 to 1ish, and ds2 needs lunch and sleep before then I can't bring myself to go through organisational nightmare of going. Thought about trying somewhere more structured, but not quite got round to it, which is a shame as DS1 (nearly 4) is itching to go and keeps asking about church.
I used to read "closer to God" and found this good, as you don't have to read it every day, but there are enough readings to accomodate incase you have a "good week"! Like you though, I struggle to find the time now,and am so exhausted come the end of the day food and sleep are the only things on my mind. All in all feeling spiritually bereft!

Nicmum - I'm glad I'm not alone

i know what you mean about church being anti-social or rather anti-baby in terms of it's starting times. We ahve e a creche full of very sleepy, very grumpy babies which means that's it's really difficult to concentrate on the teaching while you're listening out for your own grumpy child.

Any evening service is slap bang in the middle of bedtime too.

I think I've come across Closer to God before - I like the idea of a flexible study scheme - will have a nosey in the Xian bookshop.

There must be a gap in the market for a family church which is more accomodating to young children. I'm feeling very spiritually hungry and there's nothing out there to even munch on...

well I hope the cake I offered will keep you happy in the meantime muddaofsuburbia

Mudda - could be me writing this!! I find it so hard to carve some time out of the day to be still with God, and before I had kkids I used to be into silent/contemplative prayer - not much chance of that with 3 under 5!! At the moment I try to pray for things as and when the urge takes me. I pray for the children while I am breastfeeding dd2 (6 months) which works really well. I try just to hold things up to God as I go along, but don't find that I have much time to 'receive' - if that makes sense.
What we do for reading the Bible is we always take 5 monutes at the end of the day (dh and I ) to read a portion of the Gospels and just try to relate it to what is going on in our lives. We're reading through Mark at the moment and it has been really appropriate to our lives.
We also use a book called 'Celtic Daily Prayer' published by the Northumbria Community. It's great, has little readings for each day plus prayers for morning, lunchtime, evening and bedtime. We don't do them all but I try to say Midday prayer while I am making lunch and dh and I sometimes say Compline (bedtime prayers) together before bed. It fite well into our lives.
But I'm just so tired. Ii read once that you should give God the best of your day. Help! There is no best in my day, and sometimes I am guilty of giving what best there is to Mumsnet

Thanks Susan! Maybe we should put a mini reading on this board every morning. I know what you mean about giving your best time... Flip - now I've written that I realise how much I've slipped!

I like the idea of morning/midday and evening "slots" of set aside time. Otherwise my communication with God consists solely of "arrow" emergency prayers.

Dh and I prayed and read together when we were engaged and first married, but now it's just grace and a bedtime prayer with ds.

Ok - this definitely needs to change!

Have you heard of/tried
www.sacredspace.ie
Don't have time to do the link but it offewrs a reading and thought every day.

I like the Closer to God site (click on Notes). Same as the books but online. I make myself go there before going to Mumsnet...

My best time for talking with God is when out walking (if dd is in the pram that is! not so easy now she sometimes wants to walk). Or sometimes we put a worship cd on at home and dd and I dance about and praise God together - well, she does most of the dancing and I do most of the praising, but she's getting the idea! (she's 24mo).

But what works is not to worry about being disciplined - it has to be different every day because my life is different every day.

When she was very small I used to read the Bible out loud to her - she didn't care if I was reading Leviticus as long as I was talking to her, and I got to read my Bible!

Zerub - that site's exactly what I need. I've just put it on my desktop and I'll only let myself on MN once I've had a decent read and talk with God.

Thanks Zerub, I've been looking at it too -didn't realise it was SU, always a good bet. Added ti to favourites and will try to do the same - go there first!

Maybe we should keep and eye out for how each other are doing? What do you think?

I think that this is when my Angels stepped in ... I found that I was not going to church becuase of the timings and in all fairness SUnday was our only FULL family day.

I DID feel that I was missing out spritually and ( don't laugh ) began to feel that God had too much on his plate to listen to me all the time

SO I hooked up with my Angels - and it is amazing how much calmer and more spiritual I am feeling. Well - it works for me

thanks for that site - its just the sort of thing I need - that and a bit of discipline to go on it before anything else!

Would anyone else like a discussion on the days readings prayers?

Lillibet - sounds good to me - that way we could encourage each other and be accountable to each other too.

And with that (despite my earlier promise) I will go and do today's reading!

I'd join in a discussion about that too - would do me good and although I know I am accountable to God I do find it helps to be accountable to others as well!

That website looks really good. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is undisciplined... I might try the idea of reading before mumsnetting too, although i don't go online more than a couple of times a week (dd1 doesn't sleep everyday anymore )

some friends of mine don't have a drink at night until they have done their bible study!

Has anyone read The Red Tent? It's Dinah's story, she is the one who is raped in Exodus.

What a brilliant site, now I can't use not having time to get to the Xian bookshop as an excuse! I would also join a discussion, as my discipline is not good, and think being accountable (to others as well as God) might be the push I need to get back into a two way relationship with God. I also really miss the church community, since I don't seem to get to church any more and am not in touch with any other Christians (apart from DH) it would be great to "gas about God" again!

Nicmum - someone ancient English teacher of mine once said that the word "gossip" is a derivation of the Old English "God Sip" meaning to talk about God. Surely MN is the perfect place for gossip in that case

I really should get out more.....

I started a new thread for discussions of the notes and we could keep sharing other inspirations here.

Mudda - you said you were interested in my Celtic Prayer Book - you can get it from Amazon! And also in Wesley Owen online. Its about £20 in WE but only £14 in Amazon.

ISBN is 0551032669