Songbirds greeted me with a lovely melody as I sat in the cool stillness before daybreak. The myriad of things that needed taking care of today had called me from my slumber. My nice fresh cup of coffee did its job of clearing the cobwebs before I rushed into the tasks of the day.

Yesterday at church I had been reminded once again of the importance of a daily, quiet time of reflection and worship. I am a creature of habit and as of late my habit has been to hurry into the activities of the day. Since the house flood in early January there has been an extreme amount of work to do to get things back in order.

For quite a while I couldn’t accomplish much because I was waiting on the tile people or waiting on the painters to finish. Some days I could chill, but many days felt chaotic. In reality, I knew it would soon be over. But it seemed as if the project would never end.

When the church service ended, our pastor encouraged all who would to invite the Holy Spirit to fill and guide their daily lives in a greater way than before. I knew this was something I wanted to do, but had failed at lately. I also knew that each day is a beautiful blank page on which to write so I stood and prayed with the other members of the congregation for a fresh touch from God.

After coffee this morning I remembered the service yesterday and went in search of my Bible. I found it in a box where It had been packed away with less important treasures.

How totally sad to have my Bible packed away. I should have searched for it long before now. Nope! I won’t dwell on it. Today is a new day. But what’s this? I’ve been looking for this picture. I’ll just put it in the dining room so Mike can hang it for me. And look at this trash! I had better get it to the street before the garbage truck comes by.

I hurried about as I had every morning lately rushing from one thing to the next. Suddenly, a thought came to me almost as strong as spoken words.

“Put that down and go have your quiet time.”

I’ll do it in just a minute; I have to take care of this first.

“No. Do it now before you let any more time go by.”

I stopped what I was doing and soon dropped into my favorite chair. I opened my Bible and read for a while. Nothing seemed to jump off the page at me, but I felt the deep, abiding peace that comes from obeying the voice of my Father.

When I had taken a little time to reflect and pray I went back to my tasks. The work was all there in the same place it had been before, but somehow the tasks didn’t seem so daunting. I had a friend with me.

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.