{"id":21439,"date":"1998-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1998\/10\/01\/how-to-spend-day-alone\/"},"modified":"1998-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1998-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"how-to-spend-day-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/how-to-spend-day-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Spend a Day Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I <\/strong>was intimidated the first time I tried spending an entire day in solitude. Putting some structure on the day helps. Here are some suggestions.<\/p>\n<p> Spend a brief time getting ready the night before. Ask God to bless the day, and tell him you want to devote the day to him. This day is your gift to God, but of course even more than that, it is a gift God wants to give to you. What do you need the Lord to give you: A sense of healing and forgiveness? Conviction for an apathetic heart? Compassion? A renewed sense of mission?<\/p>\n<p> Arrange the day around listening to God. Here&#8217;s a format I&#8217;ve adapted from Glandion Carney&#8217;s <em>The Spiritual Formation Toolkit:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>8:00-9:00 <\/strong>Prepare your mind and heart, take a walk or do whatever\nwill help you set aside concerns over other tasks. Try to arrange your morning\nso you can be in silence from when you first wake up.\n\n<strong>9:00-11:00<\/strong> Read and meditate on Scripture, taking time to stop and\nreflect when God seems to be speaking to you through the text.\n\n<strong>11:00-noon<\/strong> Write down your responses to what you&#8217;ve read. Speak to\nGod about these.\n\n<strong>Noon-1:00<\/strong> Lunch and walk, reflecting on the morning.\n\n<strong>1:00-2:00<\/strong> Rest or nap.\n\n<strong>2:00-3:00 <\/strong>Think about goals that emerge from the day.\n\n<strong>3:00-4:00<\/strong> Write down these goals and any other thoughts in a journal.\nYou may want to do this in the form of a letter to God.\n<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-bio\">&mdash;John Ortberg<\/p>\n<p class=\"is-style-article-copyright\">1998 by the author or Christianity Today\/<em>Leadership<\/em> Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or <a href=\"\/pastors\/help\/contactus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"copyright\" rel=\"noopener\">contact us<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was intimidated the first time I tried spending an entire day in solitude. Putting some structure on the day helps. Here are some suggestions. Spend a brief time getting ready the night before. Ask God to bless the day, and tell him you want to devote the day to him. This day is your <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/how-to-spend-day-alone\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2030],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[658,659,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3535,4611,4679,4822,4867,5016,5043],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-21439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-john-ortberg","tax_publications-1998-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_1998-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-busyness","tax_ctp_tags-patience","tax_ctp_tags-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-rest","tax_ctp_tags-sabbath","tax_ctp_tags-solitude","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Spend a Day Alone - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was intimidated the first time I tried spending an entire day in solitude. 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