Devotional Practice

Most mornings, I head outside, find my stool, and sit with my hands on my knees and my face to the sky. I spend half an hour sitting quietly, breathing the words of Jesus to John in Revelation 1:4, “Grace and peace.”

I practice receiving the blessing of God's grace and peace. I thank God for it. I enjoy the truth of it. I savor it. My mind wanders. I bring it back to these sweet words and the sweeter truth they voice. After that first half hour, I spend the next half hour praying for the people of my parish (very broadly imagined), for several church presidents, for my family.

I end my time by inviting God to fill me and use me. My final words are, “Make me an agent of your kingdom today.”

A few miscellaneous details: I aim to be on my stool before the last stars fade. Some weeks I'm there every day; other weeks it's three or four days. When it's cold, I wear multiple layers and warm myself by sips from my thermos. When it rains, I sit under an overhang of the barn roof.

Over the past forty-five years, I have engaged in some kind of devotions practice most mornings. I have read the Bible through. I have used various methods for slow, thoughtful reading—lectio divina, journaling, use of commentaries, concordance studies, reading EGW books, and classics of Christian devotional literature. The practice I describe above has been my habit for the last couple of years.

If you are looking for some way to give God, goodness and sweetness greater access to the core of your being, I recommend making some regular time for devotional practice. Just as regular practice is the customary foundation for cultivating art, music, physical health, a good marriage, etc, so it is the usual foundation for healthy spiritual life.