Lately, I have spent a large portion of my days and nights holding a baby. The question I have asked myself during these extended periods of holding him is “how can I redeem this time for spiritual good? Is there anything spiritually profitable I can do while holding my baby?”

The past couple weeks, I have found 6 different answers to these questions. While certainly non-exhaustive, these 6 things have helped me focus my mind on the Lord as I have been walking, standing, or sitting with a baby in my arms. What is the goal of all this? Redeeming the time in accordance to what God says:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15-16, ESV emphasis added

Even if you don’t find yourself holding a baby, no doubt you have free moments throughout the day. These free moments may be short, but they are opportunities to invest in your soul and in your relationship with the Lord. Here are some ways to spend those moments.

1. Pray

Before having a baby, I often asked the Lord to give me more time to pray throughout the day. He certainly answered that request by giving me a son. The first couple sleepless nights in the hospital I sat holding my son in the dark and the silence-alone except for me, my son, and the Lord. I will never forget the sweet times of prayer in the hospital holding a baby I cared so much about and who I wanted to know Christ one day.

This taught me an important lesson:

You don’t have to wait around for an opportunity to pray. You can do it now.

Communion with the Lord is made possible through Christ and that communion is possible at any moment. The key is to take the times of silence God gives you to turn our attention back to Him. Holding a baby is one of those opportunities, but so is a host of other life circumstances. Next time you find yourself having a free moment, keep your phone off. Don’t turn on music or flip on the television. Dedicate those fleeting calm moments to pray to the God who made you, knows you, and loves you.

2. Read

If I am holding my son and he is asleep, I most likely have one hand free. That means I can hold a Christian book or, better yet, the Bible. I normally can get through a chapter or two of Scripture or a couple sections of a book before my son wakes up. I personally don’t care for audio books or e-readers, but I imagine both of these are even more accessible while holding a baby.

A consistent diet of Biblical truth is what you and I need to grow. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 119, you should be longing for God’s word. This longing will manifest itself in picking up the Bible or a book on the Bible any chance you get. Don’t feel like you have to get through Calvin’s Institutes in one sitting. Just have a book nearby and pick it up when you have a free moment.

3. Sing hymns

When I am holding my son, he is not always silent or happy. That means praying or reading might be difficult or impossible. What then can I do? Sing hymns of worship. This has two joint benefits: I get to worship God and my son gets to hear Christian hymns (hopefully soothing him). There are two ways to do this:

• Have a hymnal nearby
• Memorize as many Christian hymns as you can

This is one of my favorite uses of time holding my son. And guess what? There are dozens of other opportunities God gives you throughout your day to sing praises to hymn beyond holding a baby. Remember what James 5 says:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

James 5:13, ESV

If you are feeling joy in the Lord, don’t let anything hold you back from singing. You and I have no excuse in the modern world where we have the lyrics and music to thousands of hymns at our fingertips.

Sing to the Lord so your kids can here you praising Jesus.

4. Recite a memorized Scripture passage

I don’t think Christians can over-emphasize the importance of Bible memorization. It is easy to think in a culture where everyone can get the Bible on their phones that memorization is a relic of the past. But nothing could be further from the truth. Memorization is an essential spiritual discipline to get the truth of the Bible inside your head to stay.

Holding a baby is a great time to run through Scripture verses you have memorized. You can recite a whole book of the Bible to yourself and your baby if you have it memorized! This is not some feat only a select few Christians can achieve:

Scripture memorization is a test of consistency and discipline, not of inherent intelligence.

If you want a useful and easy method to start memorizing chunks of Scripture, look here.

5. Meditate on a verse or section of the Bible

If all you can hold in your mind is a single Bible verse, you have a truth you can meditate on while holding a baby. What is Bible meditation? It is musing over and over a part of the Bible, thinking through what it says, what other passages it relates to, and the passage’s implications. The Bible itself extols the value of meditating on God’s words “day and night.”

You know what I find myself doing day and night? Holding my son. Therefore, I have a perfect opportunity each day to live out what God says in Scripture. By meditating on His word, I can, with the Holy Spirit’s help, turn a simple everyday task of holding a baby into a sanctifying time of spiritual strengthening. You might not have time to do a full inductive Bible study every hour of your day. But I am certain if you committed yourself to meditating on Scripture, you could find time throughout your schedule to think over a precious truth or promise or command from God.

6. Listen to a sermon or Christian podcast or teaching

Do you have a phone? Then you have an almost inexhaustible library of Christian preaching and teaching at your disposal. I have half a dozen apps on my phone exclusively for solid, reformed Christian teaching:

• Expositor FM (they appear to be currently updating their site)
• Martin Lloyd-Jones Sermons
• S. Lewis Johnson Sermons
• Ligonier Ministries
• Sermon of the Day from Desiring God
• Grace to You

In fact, I bet your local Church has an online sermon repository which you can access. Why not listen through your Sunday sermon a second time throughout the week? In short, you can hear the word of God preached almost anywhere you go and at anytime you want. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?

There you have it: 6 spiritually profitable things I am trying to do while holding my son. Even if you don’t have a baby currently, I would encourage you to take advantage of each free moment you have. You don’t need to have hours on end in a row to pursue the Lord.

Worship God in the little moments as well as the big.

If you want to read more of my reflections on different life circumstances, click here. If you found this post helpful, please share on social media below and subscribe. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get more content.