In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3

One of the biggest challenges new believers and possibly seasoned Christians face is daily setting aside time to spend with the Lord. Even though believers recognize the importance of a daily prayer, most struggle with being consistent.

Recently, I was reminded of a common practice in health care—Huddles! Just in case you are unfamiliar with the practice, here is a description:

A huddle is a short, stand-up meeting — 10 minutes or less — that is typically used once at the start of each workday in a clinical setting. The huddle gives teams a way to actively manage quality and safety, including a review of important standard work such as checklists. Often, standard work will be the output of previous quality improvement projects, and huddles provide a venue to ensure process improvements stick. Huddles enable teams to look back to review performance and to look ahead to flag concerns proactively.

Huddles were put in to place for patient safety. Research showed improved patient outcomes and better unit communication when health care members met daily to discuss the priorities and strategies of the day.

Maybe the struggle with setting time aside for prayer and devotion is in our perspective. How about if we thought of our quiet time as a “Daily Huddle” with God? Instead of drudgery or boring prayer and Bible study, refocus the time as a “check-in” with God. When we meet with Him to discuss His plan for the day. Here are some suggestions:

• Share important activities or stresses that you will be facing. This may include difficult conversations or challenging projects.
• Share your concern for others – this is a great time to intercede for your colleagues and bring their concerns to the Lord. 
• Include a personal focus  – are you actively seeking to grow spiritually or implement a suggestion from a sermon topic? Take time during the huddle to be intentional about how you want to mature as a believer or grow closer to Christ.
• Take a moment to listen – this can be the most challenging! Yet, even 1 minute of quiet opens our heart to listen to our Great Physician’s plan.

A huddle brings a health care team together for better communication and collaboration, and the same is true for our huddle time with God. We can connect with God and prepare for the day, while benefiting from checking in with Him.