We just got back from a trip to northwestern Ontario. I’ve been going to the same lake since 1964. My parents took me, and my wife and I took our sons, and now our son is taking his wife and children.

A couple of weeks before we left, I began sorting through equipment: fishing rods, reels, lures, tackle, line, and more. I brought tackle boxes up from the basement, along with all the other equipment, and set it in our sunroom. It took up much of the floor space.

The sunroom is also where I sit each morning with a cup of tea or coffee and read Scripture, think about what it means and how it applies to my life, and pray. I’ve been in a habit of doing this for decades, and I value the practice highly.

I’ve been using the sunroom for this devotional time since we moved into our current home (about a year ago), but before we went on vacation, I had to move out of the sunroom to read and pray. There were just too many distractions there. Every time I looked at a lure, my mind went to someplace on the lake, and I would daydream about casting that lure along the south side of the reef. This spinner harness I would troll along the weeds at the west end of Beaver Bay. My mind could visit a dozen places on the lake (it’s a big lake, over 68,000 acres) before I brought my daydream to an end.

If I wasn’t daydreaming, I was fretting over how I was going to get everything ready before it was time to leave. This rod tip needs to be replaced. The bail on that reel wasn’t closing like it should the last time I used it. I need to pay for an Ontario Outdoors Card and apply online for a fishing license. The car needs an oil change. The hinges on that tackle box are loose. Are we going to remember to take our passports?

I would read some passage in the Gospels and, before I was done with the first paragraph, wander into some daydream or fretting episode. When I finally emerged and returned to my reading, the same thing would happen again within moments. After four or five days of this, I gave up and moved to the living room. My fishing gear proved too powerful a distraction for me.

I suspect that many people set themselves up to fail at having a meaningful daily devotional time. Their room may not have any fishing equipment, but it is full of distractions. This floor needs to be cleaned. I forgot to email the boss about those orders. That bill needs to be paid by tomorrow. I didn’t pick up his meds at the pharmacy. I wonder who is texting me at this time of the morning? There is a reason Jesus taught that people should go into the “closet” – the inner room where there are fewer distractions – in order to pray.

Prayer is sometimes work. Sometimes it is like close-quarters combat—Paul said that Epaphras was always wrestling in prayer. It takes focus. Attention. We set ourselves up to fail when we furnish our prayer room with distractions—or bring our distractions with us in the form of our iPhone 16.

If you do not have a practice of reading Scripture, thinking about it, and praying over it, consider starting one. It is central to the “renewing of your mind.” There is no substitute for a thoughtful reading of Scripture, intertwined with prayer. If you are just getting started, a how-to guide may be helpful (see https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/devotionals/how-to-have-a-quiet-time.html or https://www.navigators.org/resource/how-to-have-a-daily-quiet-time/) but keep in mind that your devotional time is an investment in a relationship with a person (God), and relationships are hard to script.

For years, I have taken time each morning to read from the Psalms, the Old and New Testaments, and the Gospels, as listed in the Common Lectionary. I think about what I read and allow the Scriptures to inform my prayers for myself, my family, church, and others.

I am currently using the acronym H.E.A.R. as an aid to thinking and responding to the Scriptures. With each text I: Highlight a verse by handwriting it; I Explain what the verse or text is about; I write out at least one way the text Applies to my life; and I Respond with prayer or with a decision to act. I also choose one verse (not necessarily from the texts I am reading) to memorize.

This practice has been the mainstay of my spiritual disciplines and I value and protect it. Yet a few fishing lures (my wife would say, “A few?”) and some rods and reels were enough to nearly nullify my benefit.

Beware of distractions. Find your inner room (which might be outside if that is where you are least distracted) and use it. If you would like help starting a devotional reading practice, let me know in the comments section (you’ll find a link in the small print near the bottom of this page), and we’ll correspond.