“I know,” my wife teases me, “Quiet time solves everything.”
 
And it does, I’ve come to believe. 
 
Quiet time—that 20 minutes or so every day in the morning before the rat-race begins.  Time to sip a cup of coffee, get my head on straight, connect with my heart, talk silently with the Creator, read, listen to gentle music, walk in the morning dawn…whatever it is that allows us to experience Presence, I have come to realize, is the solution to every problem we may encounter. 
 
Quiet time roots us in our core Being.  It centers us, grounds us, stops the whirling monkeys in our head…at least for a few moments.  Quiet time is the umbilical cord that connects us to our Source, to Inner Wisdom. Guidance.
 
In Quiet Time (aka prayer or meditation) I’m able to bring to God whatever questions or issues are nagging me.  I pose the question: “God what is it I should do about ____ (whatever concerns I have today)?”  Then I sit in the Quiet and listen silently for the answer.  
 
If God responds, I often feel the answer bubble up from my heart, a gentle murmur of a word or phrase that’s filled with simple wisdom.  Sometimes his response is, “Do nothing.  Let it unfold.”  Other times I hear a whisper, “I love you. Let go.”   And if he doesn’t respond while I’m sitting in Quiet Time, the answer seems to appear later, usually when I least expect it.
 
Jesus, when he walked the earth, modeled the basic human need to practice Quiet Time. The Gospels depict Christ often getting up early in the morning to pray, to be alone with his Father.  And when he ran out of steam, he abruptly left the crowds to go into nature and be alone so he could recharge and reconnect with his Spirit.
 
Richard Rohr says that if every person sat in meditation for 20 minutes each day, the world would be transformed because our actions would be guided by our Higher Power, by a deeper Knowing.  And according to Rohr, the resurgence of people’s desire to learn how to meditate is a hopeful sign that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world creating stronger connections with God.
 
Could finding peace and balance be that easy—taking time each morning to be alone and sip coffee with the Creator?  Maybe Rohr’s on to something: Quiet Time solves everything.
 
 
 
—brian j plachta
brianplachta.net