Holy Leisure: Transform Your Quiet Time from Duty to Delight with Guest Cara Ray
(Click Here to Listen to the Podcast Interview with Cara)
“As a new Christian, I was taught to have a daily quiet time; however, when I couldn’t stick to it. I felt guilty and like a spiritual failure… Each attempt helped for a time, but soon I was right back where I started. Exhausted, I concluded this was just the way things were. Until one day…” Cara Ray, The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places
Hello Friends,
Welcome to Holy Week. It’s one of the most important weeks of the year—a time when we remember the awesome plan of God to send Jesus to save us from our sin!
But it wasn’t only to save us from our sin and provide a way for us to share eternity with God in heaven that Jesus died. There is a second important reason as well--that the intimacy between God and human beings would be restored.
From the very beginning, God created us for an intimate, unhindered relationship with Him. In the garden, He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. But when they sinned, a wall was erected between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.
From then on, God began His 6000 year plan to restore that relationship. It was so important to Him that He sent His son and endured the agony of watching Him die on the cross. Through the blood of Jesus, that wall was demolished. And now--an intimate, unhindered relationship with God is possible again!
If that is true, why does our quiet time sometimes feel so dry? Why doesn’t God feel as close as when He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day?
Could it be that we’ve put spending time with God in a box He never created? Have we assumed that our quiet time can only look a certain way,
Get up early
Open Bible
Read passage
Answer questions
Pray
Move on
And without realizing it, something that should have been a living relationship became a checklist.
That's what we'll be talking about in this episode of the newsletter and podcast interview with my guest, Cara Ray...
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Because that was her story, too. Like many of us, she passionately loved Jesus. And for years, she tried to maintain a consistent quiet time.
But it felt like:
“An exercise of my will… like lifting weights or eating broccoli; it wasn’t something I always enjoyed, but it was good for me and would produce good rewards if I stuck with it.”
She longed for more but didn’t know how to get there.
Until one day, while reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, the Lord answered her prayer when she came across the term Otium Sanctum, translated as Holy Leisure.
In that moment, the Holy Spirit revealed something life-changing:
Life with God was never meant to feel like duty… but delight! Instead of coming to her quiet time with a checklist, Cara began coming to it as a leisure, like she would meet a friend for coffee, simply to enjoy God's presence.
She listened for the ways He gently directed her to read the Bible, and began to incorporate things she enjoyed—journaling, gazing out the window at creation, singing in worship.
And everything changed.
She no longer dreaded her quiet time. She looked forward to it. It became what she had always yearned for — a living relationship with God. A place where she sensed His presence, heard His voice, and was filled to overflowing.
A return, in many ways, to walking with Him in the cool of the day.
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This makes Easter even more special. God not only washed away our sins but made a way for a living relationship with Him!
Listen to the Interview about Holy Leisure here →
Or Watch it Here on YouTube
And the Father wants the same for you. Even if your quiet time has already been transformed, it's so good to circle back around to see where duty may have slipped back in.
So, this Holy Week, as you worship Jesus for His sacrifice, bring Him your desire for this kind of relationship.
And simply ask, “Lord, what does a relationship of Holy Leisure look like for us?”
Resources Worth Noticing:
Here are a few wonderful resources connected to today’s episode:
The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places by Cara Ray
Paths of the Righteous: Psalm 23 in the Lives of Faithful Missionaries & Witnesses for Christ by Cara Ray
5 Easy Ways to Worship Jesus This Easter Week Article or Click Hereto listen to the Podcast
Worth Remembering:
"This one thing I have asked of the Lord and that I will seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord (in His presence) all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty (the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur) of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple." Ps 27:4
So thankful to be journeying together.
Savoring the Savior,
Lori