Stairs and Ramps

Climbing up a long staircase requires more mental and physical strength than climbing up a ramp. When you walk up stairs, you stare at your feet, subconsciously ensuring they hit the middle of the step. If you gaze too long to the side or top of the stairs, you just might trip. If you try to skip steps or run too fast, by the time you reach the top, you are tired and worn out. 

It's hard to enjoy your destination when you can't catch your breath. 

When climbing a ramp, you don't have to think about where to place your feet. You just walk like normal and, pretty soon, you've reached the top! While you're walking, you can even gaze at the top until you've reached it. Although the slope does take some energy (depending on the incline), stairs give you sore calves way more easily than slopes do. 

While stairs and ramps both get you where you need to go, stairs demand more focus on the steps. Ramps allow us to focus on the destination. 

Our quiet time with the Lord should resemble a ramp more than a staircase. Meaningful time with God requires less attention to our steps (pray first, read next, journal afterwards, pray finally) and more attention on Him. 

If your quiet time is a ramp, you look up more than you look down.

When Quiet Times Feel Like Stairs

I get so wrapped up in the routine of a "quiet time", making sure each step satisfies my OCD tendencies. I look down at my feet and forget to look up. I check off all my boxes: Read my Bible reading plan, check! Pray through my request list, check! Journal a pretty verse in cursive, check! 

If I skip steps, I feel guilty and inadequate, keeping me from enjoying God for who He is. If a step does not meet my expectations, I question if God is really using this time to grow me spiritually. Pretty soon, I get burned out. 

I take my eyes off God, my final destination, who is the whole point of the steps. My "Good Girl" side enslaves me to my quiet time routine. My inner-Pharisee chooses to reach Jesus via the "heavy-laden" staircase over the "light-yolk" ramp. Legalism makes my time with God feel more like a burden than a joy.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

When Quiet Times Feel Like Ramps

God is always with us, even after our personal time in His Word ends. While moments sitting still in His Word are crucial for our spiritual growth, it is not the only means of growth. 

God does not just hear our prayers or pay attention to our lives in the morning. He is always ready and willing to draw near to us when we draw near to Him, sunrise to sunset. 

We can talk to God in the morning just as much as we can during the day. We can meditate on scripture over our lunch break just as much as we can over our morning coffee. 

Our relationship with God is not limited to a 20 minute devotional. 

Therefore, we do not have to complete the same 4 steps each morning to have a "good quiet time". In fact, sometimes a "quiet time routine" endangers those of us prone to legalism. Routines are all about the steps we habitually complete without thinking. Rituals quickly steal away the heart from authentic worship. Once the routine becomes subconscious or mundane, the right motivation and desire vanishes.

I believe God cares more about our quality of time with Him than our quantity of time. 

We may learn more about Him through an hour of deep, focused Bible study at 3:00 once-a-week on a Thursday than we do during a quick "15 minute devo" fix every morning. 

Don't get me wrong, a "ramp-like" quiet time does require discipline. God did not intend true Bible study to be an easy and effortless task. It takes time, dedication, and a desire that stems from the Holy Spirit. 

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13

We may not always have a helpful "one-liner" to get us through the day. We may not always have an "aha" moment or get goose-bumps or teary-eyed. Nevertheless, God is using every quality moment, big or little, to make you more like His Son. Focused time in God's Word and prayer produces the promised pleasures of His presence. 


When we keep God at the center of our Bible reading and prayer time, our task will feel less like a checked box and more like a joyful gift! 

When Quiet Times Become Quiet Days 

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. When we miss a "quiet time", we do not necessarily miss our chance for sanctification. When we forget to pray, we do not have to tune God out as we start our day. 

God does a work in us outside of our devos, prayer lists, and calligraphy. He speaks through us through continuous prayer, nature, people, sermons, music, etc. While our knowledge and love for God primarily grows through personal Bible study and corporate worship, do not forget to look for God in your daily actives. 

God gives us the grace to seek Him in every hour and every activity.  

Time with Jesus is precious not because we check off every box but because it centers our lives around Jesus, anytime, anywhere. Jesus uses our focused attention on His Word to remind us of His grace and our calling. 

"God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began." 2 Timothy 1:9

When we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with a sacrificial gratitude, worship, and an eagerness to know the fullness of God, the Spirit will transform our thoughts and desires to look more like Christ. We walk away from the Word changed. We leave our prayer time refreshed and confident in the Lord. 

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

Focus on The Point more than The Steps and the truth and joy of the Lord will sink in.