Even Jesus missed a quiet time.

You’ve never heard that sermon before, have you? But, rest assured, frazzled mom or stressed-out grandma, it happened. And if it happened to Him, it’s going to happen to you too.

Chances are if you have little ones running around your house, the term “quiet time” is more of a fantasy than it is a reality. If you wake up early to spend time with the Lord, then your kids somehow know it, and they’re in the kitchen wanting breakfast in five seconds flat. If you sneak your Bible into the bathroom so you can lock the door behind you, they’ll find you and start knocking in under a minute. And if you wait until you’ve tucked them in at night, when the house finally is quiet, your eyelids get the memo before your mind and you don’t even have time to thank God for the silence before you’re already fast asleep.

Been there. Done that.

In Matthew 14, Jesus experienced the same frustrations. He had just learned that his relative and friend, John the Baptist, was beheaded. His immediate response was to withdraw from everyone so He could spend some quiet time in prayer. But guess what happened? “The crowds followed Him.” His intentions for a nice quiet time with the Father were interrupted by the needs of others.

Sound familiar, Mom?

So instead of communicating with God, Jesus “had compassion” on the people. He healed the sick. He taught the crowd. And He fed the hungry (over five thousand of them!). Then, after everyone else was taken care of, He finally “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.”

When you’re caring for your own “flock,” you’re going to experience delays, interruptions, and demands, just like Jesus did. This doesn’t mean that you hate God. It doesn’t mean that you’re a horrible Christian. It just means that you have to do what Jesus did and get to it as soon as possible. These four tips will help:

1.  Be Realistic

When you’re a mom of young children, your time with God is going to look different than it did when you were single. You have three options on how you deal with that.

1. Guilt. Ride the wave of guilt as you keep trying and failing to keep your quiet times unaffected by your lifestyle changes.
2. Goodbye. Since you feel it’s got to be all or nothing and it clearly can’t be all, throw in the towel and say goodbye to all attempts at quiet times until your children are grown.
3. Grace. Understand that you have more to balance now, and adjust accordingly. You might not be able to spend an entire hour a day reading your Bible. Some days, you may be doing good just to read one verse. You may spend less time journaling and more time meditating. Or you may pray more often with your eyes open than you do with your eyes closed.

2.  Be Flexible

Notice what Jesus didn’t do when the crowd followed Him. He didn’t ignore them. He didn’t yell at them for bothering Him, and He didn’t chastise them for needing Him. Instead He put love above legalism and remained flexible in how He ministered and when He spent time with the Father.

3.  Be Forgiving

If and when life gets in the way of your regular time with God, confess it, forgive yourself, and get back to it as soon as possible! One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was this: “No matter how many steps you take away from God, it is always just one step back to Him.” I used to think that if I skipped a quiet time for four days, it would take at least four days to get back in good standing with God, and so on. But God doesn’t work that way. He didn’t make you work your way into a relationship with Him to begin with, so He’s not going to make you work your way back to Him when you go through periods of wandering.

4.  Be Creative

Honestly, I’m not a fan of the term “quiet time.” The phrase is not even in the Bible. But we’ve gotten so used to it, we’re subconsciously conditioned to think that a “quiet time” doesn’t count unless it’s, well, quiet. And unless it lasts for at least 20 minutes. And unless we start and end with prayer (in the ACTS format, of course – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). And unless we journal afterwards. And unless we do whatever else we’ve been taught is the “right” way to have a quiet time…

Not so. Your time with God does not have to look a certain way or follow a particular formula. If you’re struggling because your kids are always with you, consider including them. Read from a Children’s Bible or from a Children’s devotional. (I’ve spent many nights with the AWANA books, myself, and when my oldest son was young, I read his Children’s Bible to him while he played in the bathtub.) Try praying out loud with your kids. Teach them old traditional hymns. If it’s difficult to read the Bible, consider listening to it on CD or through a Bible app while you’re in the car. Pray while you’re in the shower or while you’re folding clothes. The possibilities are endless. Think outside the box and get creative in your “quiet” times.

Just remember, a full house, a hectic schedule or a demanding season does not have to mean the end of your time with the Lord. It may not always be easy, but it can be done!

How do you have a quiet time when it’s never quiet?