Sunday Solitude

I tried to write this post yesterday, but it wasn't gonna happen.  After doing chores all morning and hosting a "Crafternoon" with some ladies from my office to craft and watch chick flicks, my mind was just done like dinner.  I stared at this screen for quite a while and finally decided to give up.   Here goes another shot at it.

Trent gets up and heads to church pretty early on Sundays and I usually would keep snoozing or get up but poke around the house and take a while getting ready for church.  I decided a few weeks ago to be a little more purposeful about that time so I have developed a new habit.   It involves this:

And some of this:

And this:

And every few weeks, this:

Not much of an agenda, just a time to sit still for an hour or so before I head to Sunday school and church. It is enjoyable, refreshing, and a much better use of my time than just poking around the house killing time.  I have come to really, really enjoy this time.

Do you have a regular time set aside for some solitude?  Just you, your journal, Bible, a cup of hot tea or coffee, maybe a pen and paper for letter writing, maybe a laptop for blogging or journaling online.   I'm sure this would look different for different people.  Maybe you'd prefer to bring nothing and just sit and people watch and think.  Maybe I'll try that one of these Sundays.  I'm actually sitting at Starbucks right now writing this.

You may be thinking "that sounds lovely, but I don't have any extra time in my schedule for something like that!"  I totally understand that feeling, believe me.  I think my response would be a) turn idle time into useful time,  b) simply make/find time and then c) protect that time.   I could have kept poking around the house on Sunday mornings or just laid in bed instead.  Technically I could wake up/get up at 8:45 and have enough time to get ready and make it to church by 9:30 Sunday School.  But I actively decided to make that time more meaningful.   I decided to go ahead and get out of bed, get showered and dressed for church, gather my things and head to Starbucks.  I also decided to protect this time and make it regular.  If I stick to it, it will truly become a habit, a mostly nonnegotiable item on my schedule.  If I'm wishy washy about it, it will lose importance quickly and therefore lose its spot in my schedule.

You don't have to go to Starbucks.  You can go to your kitchen table or your home office or your porch swing.  Do any of y'all out there have a set time and place for solitude or quiet time?  Where is it?  How do you protect this time and keep the rest of your busy schedule from choking it out?