Bonding with God is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. Some of us feel that if we can’t give God a good uninterrupted half hour, we aren’t giving him anything. Intentional time set aside for bonding is one of the best gifts we give anyone. But even small moments spent with God (or others) matter and eventually add up. If you spent fifteen minutes with God every day for a year, at the end of the year you would have logged over eleven eight-hours days. If you spent a half hour with God every day for a year, at the end of the year you would have logged over a month of eight-hour days. Fifteen minutes, a half hour—it doesn’t seem like much, but over time they become days logged with God! It counts as bonding time. If spending an hour, not to mention a day, with Jesus seems daunting to you, let me suggest it may not be as out of your reach as you think.

BEGIN WHERE YOU ARE

If fifteen minutes is what you have, give yourself to God as deeply as you know how for fifteen minutes. Trust God to receive and work with what you give him.

If you can give more time one day a week, add this appointment with God to your regular rhythm.

If you want to intentionally bond with God for an hour or more, choose a place away from your home or work: a park, the sanctuary of a church, a garden, a retreat house. Get away from the distractions that keep you preoccupied and distracted.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BONDING HOURS WITH GOD

Allow 5-10 minutes between each exercise. Don’t hurry. There are enough suggestions below to fill many hours. Begin with one hour and add a second and a third as you can.

Hour 1

1. Spend 5-10 minutes in silence. Let the internal noise die down. Breathe in the presence of Jesus. He is the oxygen that sustains your soul. Open yourself to God in prayer:
   • Practice “palms down, palms up.” (A full description of this exercise is found under “Centering Prayer.”) Place your palms down on your lap as a symbolic indication of your desire to release the concerns you name to God. Turn your palms up to demonstrate your openness to receive what the Trinity brings. Wait before God.
   • What do you desire from God during this time of bonding?
   • Express your feelings and expectations to God about this time.
   • Dialogue with God about where you have sensed his presence in the last week or month.

   Ask God what he wants for you to receive during this time. Listen. Respond to any nudgings you receive from the Holy Spirit.

2. Choose one or two of the following suggestions. Follow your desire.
   • Go for a walk and be with God. Notice signs of God’s love. Read nature as a revelation of God. If possible, gather a symbol of your time with God—a rock, a branch, a flower. Thank God for how he reveals himself in his creation.
   • Slowly read a psalm out loud. Psalm 16, 19, 23, 42 and 51 are great places to begin. Let the psalm echo through your heart and mind. What do you hear God saying to you? Pray your response to God.
   • Worship God through song. Listen to some hymns or praise music on your headphones.
3. Take a posture that reflects your attitude and desire toward God (kneel, lie prostrate, stand with arms lifted or look up to heaven). Remain in the posture and let your heart seek God.

   Write a psalm to God. It can be anything from a lament to a song of praise.

Hour 2

1. Eat a snack in the presence of God. Let the process of eating remind you of what it means to be nourished through God and his Word.
2. Use the framework found in “Devotional Reading” to listen to one of the following Scriptures: Mark 10:13-16; Luke 7:36-50; Luke 4:1-13 or a Scripture of your own choosing. Put yourself in the story. What is God saying to you?
3. If you are sleepy, take a rest or a catnap.
4. Listen to your desires through the examen questions:
   • What is life-giving to you? What is life-thwarting?
   • Where do you find love, joy and peace in your life? Where does it seem absent?
   • Where are you sad? Where are you glad?

   Pray about what you see.

Hour 3

1. Consider the Scriptural names and metaphors that reveal God’s nature and character: Good Shepherd, Comforter, Healer, Lord, Father, Mighty God and so on (see “Names for Worshiping God,” appendix 5). Let the names of God to draw you into worship.
2. Confess the truth about yourself and your relationships to God. Invite God to look intimately at you. Intimacy can mean “into me see.” Confess your sins using the Ten Commandments as a guide. Or confess using the following questions:
   • What occupies most of your time and attention?
   • Where is your first love these days?
   • What relationships need attention?
   • What temptations knock you for a loop?
   • Where do you rationalize, deny and blame?
3. Pray David’s prayers of confession in Psalm 51 or Psalm 32. Read 1 John 1:9 and receive God’s forgiveness. Say aloud: “Because of Jesus, before a holy and righteous God you stand completely in the clear.”

Hour 4

1. Thank God for making you and living within you. Read Psalm 139, replacing the appropriate pronouns with your own name.
2. Pray for the anxieties and sufferings that weigh you down. Name these before the Lord.
3. Imagine Jesus on the cross. Pour your sufferings and worries into his wounds. Put all your pain and worry into his nail-pierced hands. Use Psalm 56 to express your own troubles.
4. Pray for the people you love and for the world and its needs. Take your time and listen for the prayer Jesus may be praying for these people and situations. Enter into his prayer. Leave these concerns with Jesus.

Hour 5

1. Take a walk. Choose a symbol from nature to express your experience of God in this day.
2. Explore drawing a picture, photographing an image or writing a poem that captures something significant about your time with God. Let this creative act remind you of your time with God.
3. Ponder how this time with God has been different than what you anticipated.
4. As you return, what do you want to leave behind with God? What do you want to take back with you?

There is no right way to spend a day with God. Receive the day that has been given. Don’t fret if you feel that nothing happened. Trust that a moment will come when the seeds planted today will sprout. Perhaps days from now you will have an insight that comes from a deep insight you didn’t have before. Or perhaps in stressful times ahead you will notice an inner shift toward patience and kindness. Bonding with God will bring forth fruit in due season.