Donna K I am a blessed mother of five children and four grandchildren. I love to encourage and strengthen other women with the same encouragement I've received from the Lord, who is "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" View all articles | Contact author

I was challenged recently by a question someone posed:  "Intellectually, do you understand that your grasp of the Word of God is more important than the amount of food and sleep you get?"  And the follow up question: "Practically, does your life reflect that truth?" 

To a mother of an infant or of small children, sleep is often a rare and precious commodity.  And then there's food.  Wow!  I'd be embarrassed to admit how many times during the course of a day food enters my mind.  Do I value the Word of God more than I value food and sleep? Food and sleep are gifts from God that are meant to be enjoyed, and our bodies can't function without them.    I think they are meant to be reminders that just as our physical bodies require them, our souls need the Word of God and the rest that comes from trusting Him.

There are seasons in our lives when the amount of time we are able to spend reading the Word is limited by life's demands, but the truth stands that you make time for what's really a priority for you.  It may only be 10 minutes out of the day - alone in the bathroom with your Bible and a prayer that God would make His Word come alive to you, and that you would be able to work it out in your life.

Ten minutes a day adds up to 70 minutes a week, 300 minutes a month and 3, 650 minutes, or 60 hours, a year.  Don't underestimate the value of 10 minutes in God's life-giving Word a day.  As your schedule changes you can add more minutes, but for now, look for small bits of time that will be available.  May we all be able to say with the psalmist in Psalm 119:93:  "I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life."

For Christians who have been changed from the inside-out through Jesus' saving death on the cross, nothing we can do will change our standing before God.  But without quality time in God's Word, we won't experience the spiritual growth we were meant to as children of God.