Back-up Plan for Personal Devotion
I think most Christians believe that having a daily devotion is a valuable time communing with God, and it is also beneficial for our spiritual lives. However, when it comes to real life application of this belief, most of us fall short. It is usually not for lack of desire but lack of discipline or organized planning. There are many reasons why we don’t have consistent personal devotion, and whatever the reason is, we should stop making excuses and start doing it, but not without a plan AND a back-up plan.
I believe having a personal devotion early in the morning is the best plan for me. For the past several weeks I’ve been getting up one hour earlier than the rest of the family to do my devotion. Believe me, I’m not a morning person and getting up early is not an easy thing for me. What I discovered was that the first week or two was hard BUT my body eventually adjusted to the earlier schedule. I find myself waking up before the alarm clock goes off. The key to waking up early is going to bed early the night before.
As much as I want to have my morning devotion time stay on track, it’s not possible all the time. Things happen such as going to bed later than planned, needing to get up in the middle of the night to care for a child, illness, etc. When I’m not able to meet the Lord first thing in the morning, I have my devotion in the afternoon when the kids are napping. This is my back-up plan. Just because I’m unable to stay on track in the morning, it doesn’t mean I should skip it altogether. If for some reason I can’t meet the Lord in the afternoon, I do my devotion in the evening after the children are in bed. This is my second back-up plan.
I think it is helpful to have a plan AND a back-up plan. In the past I’d beat myself up, figuratively speaking, for missing personal devotional time in the morning. Now with two back-up plans I know I won’t be skipping it again. Let us start or continue to meet with our Lord and Savior faithfully.



