My alarm went off promptly at 5:45 AM in this morning and I, in turn, promptly slapped it into submission before taking another 35 minutes to will myself out of bed. I made some coffee, turned on the shower to let the water heat up (it usually takes about 20 minutes in the morning), and walked out into the living room to spend some time reading my Bible.
In truth, I was frustrated that it had taken me so long to get out of bed. It has been my goal to change my sleeping habits so I can wake up earlier so that I can spend time with the Lord before work without feeling rushed. On this particular morning I was planning on also spending some more time preparing my sermon for this Sunday morning.
As I sat down on the couch and reached for my Bible, I paused to look out the window at the impending sunrise. Morgan and I are blessed to live 9 floors up with huge, 10 foot tall by 15 foot wide windows on two walls in our living and dining rooms so when the sun begins to rise, light just floods in. At the moment I sat down a sliver of gold begin to outline the side of the mountains and the sky began to explode with color after color. Every combination of blue, purple, orange, yellow, red, and pink streaked across the sky.
It was as if the greatest painter ever had invited me to watch him work. I put my Bible down. I put my phone down. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and just took it all in for a 15 minutes. I knew that I didn’t have a lot of time before I would need to get ready for work but I wasn’t going to miss this chance to be with my Creator.
At first I felt guilty because I knew I could have used that time to read more of the Bible or maybe prayed longer. Then I felt the Holy Spirit asking me to just stay and wait. It’s easy for me to feel like I need to fill all of my time with something. Productivity is such a high value for much of our society that sometimes it can overrun our relationship with Jesus.
Of course I’m not saying that we should abandon reading the Bible and just “feel” God everywhere. Spending time reading the written Word of God is incredibly important to your growth as a believer, but I often let its importance create a task-like mentality. Reading the Bible often becomes something that I feel accomplished when I can check it off and like a failure when I can’t. It ceases to become about spending time with God and transitions into a to-do list.
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
I’ve found that I need this same reminder as a worship leader. It can be easy to get focused on making sure each song goes off without a hitch. If you have a limited amount of time on a Sunday morning it can be easy to focus on fitting your songs in and making sure you don’t go over your time limit. Busyness can find us where ever we are. Whether you are a worship leader on Sunday morning or you are a teacher on Monday morning it’s hard to escape the busyness of life, but we have to.
For some of us that may mean a schedule adjustment, but for most it’s a mental shift. Take 5 minutes and recognize the goodness and beauty of God right in front of you. The Holy Spirit should not have to make an appointment to speak to you. Watch and listen for Him in this very moment right now.
If you are a worship leader, seek to create space in your worship sets. Don’t feel the need to jam every second full of content. When we create space for the Holy Spirit he fills it with Himself and that’s the best content we could ever ask for.
Jeremy Stone is the Worship Pastor at Lynchburg Church of God in Lynchburg, VA.
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