DEEP - an outline for Blessed Quietness reflection

    Quietness, what is it, really? It's generally described as free or comparatively free from noise. I think of quiet as the base to which everything with sound and motion is added in our days, the place where stillness resides but gets buried by chaos.

    This base is a foundation, and the foundation is Jesus.

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 3:11

    Chaos cannot successfully bury our foundation. Jesus was buried and rose on the third day. Jesus uncovered as our base and foundation of stillness is Blessed Quietness.

 

  Blessed Quietness is shutting the door on chaos, like locking a fit-throwing child outside the bathroom door. You know it won't last forever, but you plan to make the best of it while you have it.

    One way to make the best of it is to use a framework for your time, a routine. Like other repetitious acts, before long, you're using it automatically and have established a habit upon which you can build for the rest of your life. 

    DEEP is the framework I have used in my personal quiet time for more than two decades. Whether I have only a few minutes to escape or time for a mini-retreat, it has served me well and allowed me to draw closer to Jesus day by day. It's not a box I have to check, and failing to make it one day does nothing to diminish my longing for the next stolen moments. It's become a way of life, one that has encouraged and strengthened me in the harder seasons of life while helping me to see His Presence in everyday places.

    It consists of devotional reading, exploring what I've read, expressing my thoughts and prayers by journaling, and closing with prayer--listening prayer.

    The next posts will outline each step of my process. I'm excited to share it with you!

"Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee." -- Saint Augustine

If you'd like to go DEEP in your quiet time, contact me (Contact Me button in drop-down menu above) to receive a free Blessed Quietness Journal printable that you can start using right away in your devotional moments.