there is a difference

I have heard it said that we shouldn't make our time with God a "habit". I understand what people are saying. They don't think that you should make something so important just another thing you do because you are used to doing it. I get that, but habits and schedules are not so different, I believe it is just the motivation behind being habitual that decided whether it is actually good or bad. But there is a difference.
That being said, in our home a schedule is the hardest thing to keep. We are up at different times each day. The week to week stuff is similar, but from day to day it is different. The single most important thing in our lives is the Lord. It Is. And we would both say that it is. So, when we are not in a right relationship with God, we are not in a right relationship with each other. So, time with the Lord is a priority. The thing is, we work for a church and it is easy to confuse studying to teach with studying for personal faith development. There is a difference. We found it hard to separate those the first year or so of ministry, but have come to KNOW that our personal faith development is KEY to our marriage, ministry and lives. This is how we have made the Lord the focus of our day.
Andrew sets the alarm...wakes up, hits snooze...turns up the heat and brews the coffee...alarm sounds...I turn it off and meet him by the couch with a cup of coffee...we greet each other...
Every day he says "good morning" (with a smile, of course) and then asks how I slept. I tell him about the weird dream I had and ask him how he slept. We kiss and then I sit on the opposite end of the couch as him. Then we read. Sometimes for 15 minutes and some times for an hour. We read the Bible, I journal and sometimes we will pick up Closer,The devotion I previously mentioned, and do that. And then we pray. Sometimes together out loud and sometimes in silence, but together nonetheless. At some point one of us decides to take a shower and that is the beginning of our day.
I cherish the time I get to sit in silence reading and learning knowing that the man whom with I share my life is learning too. This is a sacred thing.
I hope that you understand that my marriage is what it is because it is second most important. Andrew and I love each other, but we love God more. And whether you are single, married or have kids...Being in a right relationship with God is the key to having any other good relationship. Galatians 5:16 says, "walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." and we may spend too much time being selfish, spending too much time focused on our kids, blaming our spouse, or nagging, or complaining, or feeling sorry for ourselves for missing out on our "glory" days by getting married so young...but the truth is that all of those inclinations are of the flesh and we are told that if we "Walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the flesh."
This is not necessarily an easy thing to do...but definitely something that we should be striving for.
What do you think...
S