MOST OF us have too much to do as it is. The patio roof leaks, Jimmy needs help in math, and I've promised to teach four-year-olds in Sunday school this fall. Three letters sit here clamoring for my attention. I have yet to figure out my temperament type and color season—and right now, Jimmy's late for his soccer game and I'm the driver.

Real life stacks up like this for most of us, doesn't it? No wonder we squirm inwardly when someone broaches the subject of a devotional life—don't they know how much we're faced with now, without adding anything else on top?

Martha probably harbored these same misgivings when Jesus reproved her flustered activity in the kitchen and applauded Mary's example of sitting at His feet. "Doesn't He know how much I have to do?" Martha must have thought.

When Jesus commended Mary He was not being insensitive to Martha's unfinished "do list." Rather, He knew that if she would spend time with Him, she would then be able to sort through the pressing needs she faced, selecting the best from the good.

The same principle holds true for us. Daily time with God and His Word, sitting at His feet as it were, can become the lens through which we distinguish clearly the important from the incidental.

Few people happen upon this habit easily, however. For the better part of two years, I tried intermittently to establish this thing I heard referred to as a "quiet time." I would pick up the Bible and say to myself, "Now where shall I read in this Book today?" I'd close my eyes, pick a spot, read until I was tired, and head off undaunted for the day's activities. Privately, I thought this "quiet time" business was grossly over-rated.

My experience, unfortunately, is not unique. Over the years I've observed three predictable stages that most people go through in establishing an effective devotional life.

SEEING THE NEED

We must be convinced first that giving precedence to daily time with God and His Word is not a habit reserved for pastors, missionaries, and other super-Christians. The vending machine mentality of our day would deceive us into thinking we can grow spiritually by a quicker, painless method, without a discipline that's daily.

We can easily visualize the mature Christian we would like to be—someone whose stable, godly character radiates the sweet fragrance of Christ. That's why we so readily adopted Eric Liddell, the hero in the movie "Chariots of Fire." He was the epitome of the twentieth-century, Christ-like man. His biographer, Sally Magnusen, freely admitted the source of his spirituality: "He seemed to get his strength and self-discipline and his air of quiet serenity from his early-morning sessions of prayer, meditation, and Bible study . . .. somewhere in this daily discipline of faith lay the secret of the man, perhaps the secret of how he ran." What worked for Eric Liddell will work for us as well.

ESTABLISHING CONSISTENCY

I would gladly have left the physical discipline of running to the track stars but for a college teacher who required a mile trek three times a week. After three months of panting my way around the track, when I wanted to and when I didn't, I began to feel a difference—a difference I could attribute only to running. Persisting in discipline long enough and consistently enough to experience the rewards, I was hooked.

If consistency is the hurdle you're sprawled over, here are possible helps.

Until the discipline of a devotional life is fully ingrained, pick the same time and, if possible, the same place every day to meet with the Lord. Try to take time off the top of your day, time when you're alert and undistracted, rather than giving God the leftovers.

Small children with erratic schedules often do not permit us the luxury of picking the same time for anything each day. We are left then with the harder discipline of setting aside the first available time to spend with God. As our children get older they can be taught that "Mom is going to read her Bible for a little while and talk to Jesus—I'll be with you in a few minutes."

Suzanna Wesley, who had 17 children, spent one hour in prayer daily. It's said that when her children saw her with her apron over her head, they knew not to disturb her. The quantity of time and the circumstances may vary; but our children, from their earliest days, need to grow up aware of the priority we place on time with God and His Word.

When consistency is your aim, beware of those days when you know your normal quiet time is impossible. The temptation is to think "since I can't have the time with God I'd really like, I'll just wait until tomorrow." Then when tomorrow arrives, it's even easier to use the same excuse. But if, on the impossible days, you take the ten minutes with the Lord you have instead of the 30 you'd hoped for, your devotional life will become an entrenched habit rather than an expendable appendage to your life.

Isaiah used this phrase that applies well to spiritual growth: "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there" (Is. 28:10). The changes God brings about in our lives are usually slow and steady. So don't be discouraged by negligibly tangible results at first.

There are days when folding laundry appears a more attractive option than having a quiet time simply because I relish the satisfaction of crossing a completely finished task off a do list. But when is time with God ever completely finished? I persist in my devotional life because I know that the cumulative, snowball effect will actually determine the spiritual quality of my life.

Probably the greatest help in establishing consistency is a friend who will hold you accountable. Not only will you find your ability to persevere increasing, but also you can experience the richer rewards of sharing with someone else the insights you're finding in the Word.

MAKING THAT TIME MEANINGFUL

The third hurdle that most people cross is that of making the time they do spend with the Lord more meaningful. Consistency in the discipline of a devotional life is utterly necessary, yet it's merely the beginning, the skeleton. Allowing the Holy Spirit to take the Word and apply it to your life puts meaning and "muscle" onto those bare bones.

The question that emerges is: how can I make that time with the Lord in His Word so real and personal that it begins to change the way I think and feel and respond and act?

A friend of mine admitted, ‘You know, I went for months and months unable to remember by lunch what I'd read in the morning—until I added paper and pencil to my devotional life. Just taking the time to write down observations and principles I saw in each morning's passage kept God's truth fresh in my mind."

Many people expand this concept into a quiet time notebook that contains passages they have studied, verses to memorize, people and requests to pray for. Over the years, such a notebook takes on characteristics of a spiritual journal since much of your spiritual journey is recorded in it. Stephen Olford once said that if a fire ravaged his office, his devotional notebooks rather than his books would be his greatest loss.

A notebook helps you plan and institute your own "treasure hunts"—special projects in the Word of particular interest to you. For instance, if patience is a current concern of yours, then with an investment of fifteen or twenty minutes per day you can record the essence of numerous verses found in a concordance or topical Bible on that topic. After a week or two, you'll find your understanding and grasp of a particular subject greatly increased, along with the motivation to act on what you see. Sermons, conversations, and current personal needs provide a steady supply of topics to investigate.

The freedom to vary your approach can keep a devotional life from bogging down in a dry rut. Between uses of the more common approach of reading straight through a book in the Bible, interject some individual verse analysis or character studies. Leisurely time spent with the Lord in a park or get-away place, with no set schedule or time constraints—just walking and praying, reading and thinking—is especially refreshing.

Daily time in the Word is meant to help us " . . . pay more careful attention  . . . to what we have heard so that we do not drift away" (Heb. 2:1). Any method we use to study the Bible has this aim: to saturate our minds with the Scripture so that the Holy Spirit can take God's truth, apply it to the sore points of our lives, and thereby bring change, comfort, or correction.

Over the years verses and passages from my devotional life have acted as a plumbline on my thinking and behavior. Seeing God bring them to mind at the right time makes the effort worthwhile. Recently, after a painstaking, sobering month of trying to sell our house, a friend spilt his whole cup of coffee all over our beige carpet. He couldn't have picked a more prominent spot if he'd taken aim! But then I thought, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10). My problem wasn't half what Job's had been, but the lesson hit home. It was just the prodding I needed to trust God in the difficulties rather than demanding that life be wrinkle-free.

Developing a consistent, meaningful devotional life allows God's truth to gain more than just a toehold in our lives. It's like building a spiritual bank account with interest compounded daily. As that spiritual bank account grows and our understanding of God deepens, we can say with Jeremiah, "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty" (Jer. 15:16).

Paula Rinehart and her husband Stacy are on Navigator staff in Colorado Springs, Colorado.