How to stay close to god when life is busy
When Life Feels Unpredictable
Today, I am in Hartford, Connecticut for a work conference. I do some travel for work attending conferences where I can learn and bring back insights for my position and my company. As a salesperson, I also attend conferences as a vendor where I set up a booth, work with our clients at their events, and try to meet new prospects to help them become clients if they have problems my team can solve.
Anyone who travels for their job knows…
The travel can be a grind. Breakfast meetings at 7 a.m., receptions that drag until 10 p.m.—you live in a blur of hotel coffee and squinting at name tags. You stay in hotel rooms, away from home, away from your routines, away from the gym, and away from home-cooked meals. The list of inconveniences is long.
The only thing you can control is how you show up to the events. Everything else is unpredictable. Now this happens to be my specific situation, today’s specific busyness, but I think about my mom friends with young kids or how I feel when I have foster kids at home…
Your only routine is that your kids disrupt the routine. Constantly.
The kids wake at random times, you aim for a strict bedtime, but they mess that up. Kids get sick, bored, hurt, scared, and as a mom—you’re there to manage it all. So the questions of eating well, getting rest, and bringing your best self to every day…just forget it, because every day with your kids is different.
Maybe you’re a college student reading this—your class schedule changes every semester, your work schedule isn’t predictable, so it’s hard to get into any kind of life-giving routine for long. Let’s face it, we are all busy.
The Guilt of Missing Quiet Time
So, if it becomes a challenge just to show up well each day, how then can I expect to spend time with God first thing in the morning and set the spiritual direction of my day when there really is no consistency?
The only constant in my routine is change. Everything is changing. Every day looks different.
And that busyness doesn’t just drain me—it makes me feel guilty when I can’t get to my quiet time. I feel disconnected from God and distant because I’m busy, and there are so many areas that need my time…like when I have foster kids at home, keeping them alive, fed, nourished, and loved quickly becomes the priority over everything. Or when I’m at a sales conferences and I only have two days to meet with my prospects—it’s my job to get that done. It’s the priority because I literally have very finite time acheive my objectives.
Perhaps we’re all just a little too busy, and a better use of my time would be to figure out how to eliminate all the hurry that I can. If you’re feeling the stretch, John Mark Comer has an encouraging read, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
But for today, as I’m at a conference, out of my normal routines, I’m thinking that it is hard it to meet God in the midst of today.
How do I go to the quiet place every day regardless of where I am?
Jesus Modeled a Different Way
When I’m rushed and when I’m hurried, that’s exactly when I NEED the Holy Spirit.
When I’m out of my routine, what are the sacred rhythms that will keep me nourished, keep me focused, and keep me living out my faith?
What keeps me close to Jesus when I’m far away from normalcy? How do I tune my ear to Him and keep my heart unstained from the world, when I’m up to my elbows deep in LIFE?
How do I keep walking as a disciple in the Hilton Hotel, on the airplane, when my kids are puking through the night, and when I’m barely getting enough sleep to function properly?
That’s the question.
I don’t have all the answers. But I do have practices. And while I’m not perfect at getting to the Eremos, I can practice.
Here’s why this matters:
Jesus often got away so He could pour out. It’s counterintuitive, but He prioritized solitude and time out in the quiet so that He could live well. I don’t think He just got away so He could be a great minister, although He definitely was a great Rabbi and minister.
He said, “I have come that you may have life, and life to the full” (John 10:10).
Now, he meant a good deal more in this passage than what I’m about to share, but….
Have you ever thought about that? Do you think Jesus had a full life?
I think He did. Jesus lived a full life.
He lived the greatest life.
He was literally the best human to ever walk the face of the Earth. AND he lived well.
If, as a disciple of Jesus, (and that’s a fancy word for apprentice or follower), I seek to live the way He lived, walk the way He walked, say what He said, and do what He did, then I already know—part of my responsibility, no, my survival as a disciple is to find God in the quiet. Because that was one thing Jesus routinely and consistently did.
He met God in the quiet place. (if you want to learn more about The Eremos, click here.) Here’s just a few examples.
- “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35).
- “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16).
- “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (Luke 6:12–13).
- “And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves” (Mark 6:31–32).
A Simple Practice for Busy Days
Now, we know that Jesus often got away to the Eremos,( the quiet place, the solitary place, the wilderness,) but what was He doing out there?
He was praying.
He was getting His mind right. He was mulling over big decisions like choosing His disciples and where He was going next for ministry. We know this because the gospels give us these details. Jesus goes into the Eremos – the quiet, lonely place, to be with God, and then He comes back, ready to pour Himself out. He had clarity. He had purpose. He knew what He was doing next, and He did the things. And He did them well.
And I want that.
I desperately want that.
So, I’m committed to getting into the Eremos like Jesus did, but I don’t always know HOW to get there or what I’m supposed to be doing once I’m there.
So today, I want to share one simple way that I get out there no matter where I am, like at conference today, or what I’m doing, especially on those extra busy days…
I speak the Lord’s Prayer and The Jesus Creed as soon as I wake, once during the day, and right before I go to sleep.
How I Live This Rhythm
Jesus was often getting away to pray, and when His disciples asked Him about it, Jesus gave them a set prayer to pray, called The Lord’s Prayer. This prayer I’ve memorized, and if you’ve been following Jesus at all, you’ve heard the words. There are some great translations of his words, and one day, we’ll get into HOW those words can shape a life, but, for now here’s the one I’ve committed to memory, and here’s the Lord’s Prayer in The Message if the translation is easier for you to understand.
The Lord’s Prayer (Traditional)
Our Father, in heaven,
Hallowed be your Name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us of our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from the Evil One.
For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory,
Forever and ever, amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (The Message)
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Now, the Jesus Creed.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commands were in Matthew 22, He referenced a text in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 called the Shem, which in Hebrew means, Hear. And then Jesus added a little extra to it. This is important! Jesus took a familiar pattern of quoting a passage that the Jews were really familiar with and expanded it with his own idea.
“What is the greatest commandment?” Scot McKnight calls Jesus’ response to the question, The Jesus Creed, and it’s the primary thing that Jesus taught. So here are the words of the Shema and the words that Jesus added to the Shema in Matthew 22.
The Jesus Creed
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
And you shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
And a second command is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.”
If we got down to the brass tacks, Jesus made it really simple. What’s the most important thing if you want to follow God?
Love God with everything you have, and love people in equal measure.
Love God, Love Others.
Simple words. Hard work!
So, putting it all together, one routine that I can keep regardless of where I am, what I am doing—this is a habit I can build into everyday life.
I say His prayer, and I say His creed.
Allow me to paint the visual.
As soon as I wake and my feet hit the floor, I do my little stretches. Then I take a few deep breaths. I open my hands to the heavens and I recite the Lord’s Prayer and The Jesus Creed
It goes a little something like this.
“My father, in Heaven.
Hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done.
On Earth. As it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil one.
For yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever amen.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. The is the great and first commandment. And the second commandment is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandement greater than these.”
At some point in the day, often before lunch at my desk, in the bathroom, or wherever I happen to be around midday, I take a deep breath. I open my hands to the heavens and I recite the Lord’s Prayer and I say the Jesus Creed.
Sometimes I whisper this, sometimes I can only mouth the words. Sometimes I’m able to get on my knees and breathe calmly and then recite the words.
And right before I fall asleep at night, often, when I’m already in bed, I take a few deep breaths. I say the Lord’s Prayer and I say the Jesus Creed.
Three times a day I get an opportunity to remind myself of the Jesus life. I can take a breath and allow my inner spirit to get calm, even if it’s just for a moment, and embrace connection to God.
An Invitation for You
So friend, if you’re feeling stretched thin, but you want to meet Jesus right where you are…I would encourage you to give this a try as a way to experience Christ in your ordinary life.
Whether you’re away at a conference, sitting in the carpool line to pick up your kids, or waiting for your new college classes to start, you can breathe deep, change your posture, and recite Jesus’ prayer and Jesus’ Creed. Three times a day. When you wake, once in the middle of your day, and when you go to bed, try this practice to get into the Quiet place.
He’s waiting for you. And the gift you’ll receive is Him.
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