Light Lenten Reflections

Week 2

Nike Praying – Just...Do...It

Confession: There are times I like the idea of being a praying person more than I like praying...

Prayer is not without its challenges, and spending time talking to the living God is not something the world, the flesh or the devil is eager to have me do. All three, at times, will conspire to keep me too busy, too tired or too distracted to pray as I would like. I've had to learn to not over think the time, place and specifications of what my talking to God looks like.

There is much written about setting aside time to be with God, to pray, to read the Bible, to “have devotions”. It is often recommended that one set apart some time in the early hours of the morning to spend talking to God, giving God the best part of your day. But if you are like me, those early morning hours may not be the best part of your day. I had to let go of the wisdom of the sages and talk to God about when to talk to God. When is the best time for me and you to get together, Lord? Where should I be when I talk to you? The answers to that question change with the different stages and places of my life. In my college days, I'd sit in the dark on my dorm room bed, silently worshipping, silently talking to God about my day, my room mate asleep in the next bed. In my night owl lifestyle, I was giving God the best part of my day. As a young mother, I spent nap times sitting on cinder blocks in the basement talking to God, while keeping an eye on a toddler through a small hole in the wall to the next room, listening for a napping infant two floors above through the heating duct. In that basement I was giving God my only “free” time of the day and, strangely (or not), He always seemed to multiply the little time I had to give. As a stay-at-home mom with kids in school, my time with God was mid-afternoon, just before they came in the door, just before the daily whirlwind of sports, activities, dinner, and homework began it's long journey toward bedtime. It may not have been the best or only part of my day, but it was the time I most needed to be “prayed up”, to have had sat with God and allowed Him to give me what I needed for the end of day in those years of active mothering.

Over the years I've adopted what I call the Nike attitude toward prayer – “Just do it.” There are times I'm overwhelmed with all I have to do, convincing myself I don't have the time to talk to God today, but I just do it. There are times when I feel the spiritual feng shui just isn't right among the undone housework to sit down and have a rational chat with God, but I make room amidst the clutter and just do it. And there are those times I like the idea of being a praying person more than I like praying, and I just don't feel like it at the moment, but I just do it.

I find in my retirement years having settled into a new time and place for my talking with God. Late afternoons are usually a good time to give to God now, mornings still not being the best part of my day. I sit in a sunroom surrounded by plants so the wrong spiritual feng shui is rarely an excuse. I find I have more time to spend with God than in the college, toddler or school age kids years. But I still have “just do it” days, just as those dorm room nights, basement nap times and end of school day pre-onslaught times all had their “just do it” days. I didn't always come to my time of talking with God with a perfect attitude, but I did come...well, most of the time...and I still come most of the time. The best part? No matter how or when I come, even on my “just do it” days, I find God already there...

Something to think about: What kind of struggles do you have with making time to talk with God? What are the things most likely to sidetrack you from having a consistent time of talking with God? What are some things you can choose for now, this stage of your life – a time, a place – that would facilitate a daily prayer time?

Something to talk (to God) about: Bring the answers to the above questions to God today. Tell Him about the struggles and the things that sidetrack you. Ask Him what He wants your prayer time to look like in this stage of your life. Spend some time in His presence quietly listening as well as talking to Him.