Quality Time in Quantity Time

“For God alone my soul waits in silence… For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence.” – Psalm 62:1, 5

Some say that when it comes to parenting, quality time only happens with quantity of time. There’s some truth to that: and that is undoubtedly one of the gifts of this time. When have we ever had so much quantity of time with our children? Even as someone who pretty much stayed at home most of the time before the pandemic, I am flabbergasted by the difference. 

Sometimes, though, quantity of time can get in the way of having intentional quality time. It is possible to be around someone so much that you don’t actually end up connecting with them intentionally. For example, even though I’m around my kids constantly, I often don’t end up playing with them very much. They often play around me while I do chores or get my own stuff done, but it takes some intentionality to set aside what I’m doing and actually join in with their play. Even though Dave and I see each other more than we ever have, it takes intentionality to think about the other person for their own sake and not in relation to the functional living of life. The other morning, Dave spoke some words into what he’s seen in my life the past few months, and the time he spent thinking about me to do that was meaningful.

It's this way with God too. He is, after all, omnipresent. But because we always have quantity of time with him, we can become careless about having quality time with Him. We start to see him for what he gets us, or always in relation to how we’re feeling or doing, rather than for his own sake, for who he is entirely apart from how we are. We start to take his availability for granted, giving him the leftover parts of our day.

David says, “For God alone my soul waits… For God alone, O my soul, wait.” This is not someone speaking out of convenience or functionality. Think about who in your life you wait for: you wait for your boss, you wait for your doctor, you wait to pick up your kids. The waiting itself is a statement of how important someone is to you. David’s focus is upon God. He gives him the attention of his soul, his inner being, all of who he is. He does this in silence, without the distraction of the world or even his own words. This is quality time. And he writes it as both a description and an injunction: both a truth and an exhortation. Even as we experience and know how important quality time with God is, we have to remind ourselves to do it. There is a kind of experience of God that comes throughout every day events, but there is another kind of experience that comes only when we wait for Him alone, and that’s good to remember.