This afternoon, the Lord reminded me of a time that He spoke three simple words to me. He said, “Seize the moments.”
It was early one evening. My daughter and my two grandkids were visiting. To add to the noise in the room, my daughter was babysitting my eleven-month-old great-niece. To say the atmosphere was lively is an understatement.
My granddaughter was watching a movie. My great-niece, Paisley, was playing loudly with toys. My daughter was sitting on the couch talking. My grandson was playing a game. From my vantage point across the room, I sat and watched all the activity and took in all the noise.
Moments later, Paisley, crawled over to a bookshelf and turned on my iPod.
Worship music filled the room, the noise ceased as the atmosphere changed. Suddenly, the kids were playing quietly as peace saturated the room. The tangible presence of God filled the house, I took a deep breath as I basked in His presence.
In that instant, I again heard the words God had been speaking to me for weeks… “Seize the moments.”
In this busy world in which we live, it is often hard to carve out quiet time with God or His Word.
We live in world with a microwave, drive-thru, mentality. Rush, rush, rush!
A few weeks ago, I began to think about this truth.
Life is busy. Work is busy. Ministry is busy. How could I, in this hectic world, continue to carve out intimate time with God? Perhaps you feel that way as well.
If we desire to live the life of an overcomer, time with God is not an option.
Neither are all that family and work demands. All must be attended to. How
then, with the busyness of life and family, do we carve out quiet time with God?
I began to pray and ask God to show me how to cultivate time with Him amidst the demands of life. His answer to me was simple, “Seize the moments.”
How can we do this?
Here are some immediate thoughts that came to mind. Rather than looking for large chunks of time, we can take advantage of small spans of time. For example:
1. Drive time on the way to and from work or when running errands.
2. When we find ourselves home alone and it’s quiet.
3. Waiting in line to pick up the kids.
4. Sitting in a waiting room for an appointment.
5. Standing in line at the store.
We all have moments like these within our day. Moments to seize, to grasp and spend quiet time with God.
Once the Lord showed me this insight, I began to look at these moments as a gift within my day where I could spend quality time with God. I no longer struggled to find additional hours, instead I sought out the moments.
Now, each morning on my drive to work, I seize that time to worship God or to pray about my day. When I find some free time at work, I go into our prayer room and spend a few moments with God. I have made it my new habit that each time I discover a few free moments, I lay hold of them and seek the Lord.
In worship. In reading the Word. Or simply in giving thanks.
I will admit, when God first instructed me to “Seize the moments”, I didn’t think it could possibly be the same as spending hours alone with God. I was wrong.
Moments add up. Not only that, but perhaps you will find as I did, that when we capture these moments with God, His presence comes more frequently. He begins to continually draws us to Himself, and we find ourselves in the presence of God more and more.
Yet, it all begins with seizing the moments.
As life gets busier and more hectic, it does not have to affect our quiet time with God. We only need to practice seizing the moments.
Today, begin to look for moments. Moments to be with God. Moments to pray or worship. Moments to read the living Word of God. When you find them, seize them! Lay hold of them! Live them to their fullest capacity. It will be time not only well spent, but time invested.
