An obvious obstacle to a consistent and productive quiet time is the distracting nature of our culture. But a big part of the wind of distraction that blows us about and keeps us from being self directed is our feelings. I don’t know how many times young people have asked me what to do if they don’t feel like having quiet time. I get it. It’s that false sense of piety in each of us that makes us feel like hypocrites if we were to spend time with the Lord “when our hearts are not in it.” But something I’ve learned through the years is that this is the same sort of excuse I use when I don’t want to work out. I’ve avoided a lot of push ups  with the words, “I don’t feel like it.” So, in reality, when we say we don’t feel like doing devotions, we’re really just making an excuse and then justifying that excuse with our false piety.

The fact of the matter is that feelings come and go, they wax and wane. They’re as inconsistent as my golf swing. They’re influenced by how much sleep you’ve had, how much coffee you’ve consumed, whether or not there were too many mushrooms on your pizza, and so in and so forth. And let’s be honest – we may be born again, but we’re still battling sin that is more often than not so subtle that we’re deceived by our own selves. So even though there is certainly not an exact parallel between the two, my advice for students who don’t feel like having a quiet time is the same as my advice for myself when I don’t feel like getting off the couch to get some exercise: forget about your feelings and just do it (thank you Nike for that one)!

With all that said, God has designed us to be creatures of habit. It takes about 2 seconds to make a bad habit; it takes much longer to form a good one (about 21 days, according to some authorities). And if you’ve ever stuck with something long enough, you know that once you get over the hump you actually begin to enjoy the habit you’ve formed (like me when I started to realize that I would not die when I ran farther than around the block). The more I stick with my quiet time, the more I crave that time…it’s funny how that works.

Now, with that said, I don’t want to give false hope that this will be the case every single quiet time after number 21. Sometimes you won’t feel like having time with the Lord still. And sometimes you will do it and you won’t feel anything. Instead of giving up or doing it and then feeling like a hypocrite because you didn’t get all stoked, just keep doing it. Why? In his power-packed little book, Humility, C.J. Mahaney states that he  does not always feel jazzed when he finishes his quiet time, but he notes that “the very act of opening my Bible to read and turning my heart and my mind to prayer makes a statement that I need God.” This declaration of dependence is what we need beyond all else. So dispense with the feelings and get to it!