I’m going to get up and pray tomorrow morning.
Alarm sounds and dutifully we roll out of bed. One pot of coffee, a load of laundry, and 15 min of accidental scrolling later, all we’ve accomplished is gathering our Bible and lighting a candle. The bed is made but now there is a kid on your lap, and you feel dissappointed that your desires for strong morning time with the Lord are basically never going to come to fruition. Maybe it’s just not your season. Maybe you have to pray in your actions only. Maybe holiness is beyond your reach because there are just too many distractions and interruptions.
Maybe you’ll do something else instead.
Yes, maybe it could be your season where you give up sugar or do some kind of fasting to see if that helps. After all, fasting doesn’t require your time. But, inevitably, just as you begin with your momentum and good resolve, somebody has a birthday or you have a super stressful day and you think, alcohol doesn’t count as sugar, right? Or, I’m pregnant so maybe this was a bad idea? I’m constantly cooking for everyone, how did I think it was reasonable to imagine not snacking between meals? Won’t I draw attention to myself if I refuse the snacks in the lunchroom? Besides, food is such an important part of time spent with family and friends. I can’t possibly manage fasting right now, surely God must not be asking this of me.
What if I commit instead to volunteering, service work, or extra Church… never mind, I forgot I don’t have time, besides, what would I do with all these kids?
How about I just do what Mother Theresa suggested and just love my family. Ok. I can do that. Yes, let’s. Ok. *Deep breath*. Today is going to be amazing! Commence 16 hours of whining, complaining, ignoring, tattle-taling, bickering, destruction, spills, temper tantrums, and homeschooling. Then, your husband has to work late and your water heater breaks.
The impossibility is overwhelming. God feels cruel, and helplessness sets in. Maybe you’ll just stop trying all together. At least everything didn’t go wrong when you weren’t trying so hard. Maybe it’s just not your season. Maybe your relationship with God has to wait ’til some of these kids move out, or until you become a saint, which, let’s be honest, is never going to happen at this rate. Why would God abandon you like this when all you want is to be close to Him? Isn’t everyone who seeks supposed to find?
Rewind a few minutes….
Remember your “thwarted” morning routine? Therein lies the key.
Oh, but you say, I’m so tired. I can’t get up any earlier. The baby keeps me up at night so i need all the sleep I can get. Or, my teens needed me stay up late with them so I have to sleep more. I have to sleep or I wont be able to function, I’m just not a morning person, I’ve tried a thousand times and failed, etc, etc, etc.
It sounds cruel to hear this, but I promise, these are only excuses. They may be true on a superficial level, but hear me out….
These. are. not. obstacles.
The success of your day (on a spiritual level) comes down to the success of your morning… and the success of your morning comes down to not making excuses. I’m not suggesting that you instantly become superhuman or that you white knuckle or muscle your way through something impossible. No, that would just drain your energy and just make you bitter and senile long before you time.
I need to tell you something a little uncomfortable and yet critically important:
You are not capable
the sooner you accept this, the better.
God doesn’t want you to “do more”, He wants you to rely more on Him. That’s why He “makes” your life “impossible”.
If you can’t wake up early, then pray for the grace to trust that He will supply your missed rest
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” – Matthew 11:28-30
Commit to prayer being paramount. Pray as you roll out of bed before your feet touch the floor. You don’t need to “get ready” to pray, you need to pray to get ready for life. Do not sleep with your phone anywhere near your bed, for fear that it might accidentally steal your precious fleeting moments with the Lord. You can check the weather and your messages later. Do not turn on the light (so that the disheveled state of your bedroom doesn’t bother or distract you). Do not make the bed. Do not make coffee. Do not get cozy. Kneel instead. (It’s hard to sleep kneeling). PRAY. If you need water, keep a bottle beside the bed. Do your preparation the night before, or better yet, STAY prepared always. Keep tissues, a pen, your bible, your journal, a small booklight, whatever you use… but PRAY.
Be instant in season and out of season. – 2 Timothy 4:2
The #1 thing keeping you from growing your prayer life is EXCUSES.
We don’t even see them. They feel real. Not like excuses at all. Prayer can even feel like shirking our duty sometimes.
Maybe I should just make my work my prayer instead: Ora et labora?
Ora et Labora means Prayer AND Work, not work instead of pray. Yes, it is true that you can pray while you work but this does not mean you should skip focused prayer. For us Martha’s out there, this can feel almost threatening, but quiet prayer is a skill that must be developed and exercised, just like any muscle. It isn’t something some people “have” and others don’t. It’s just that some people have been exercising it for a while and some didn’t even know the muscle was there.
These excuses disguised as confusions, doubts, and worries that steal our peace and our time, they are the work of our enemy.
His goal is to make us believe that we have no time for prayer, or that prayer is a waste of time. He is pleased when we feel hopeless. His greatest triumph is to distract us from God by any means necessary even if it means using good things like ministry or theological studies. As long as it distracts us from prayer, he wins. The only chance we have is to recognize his tactics for what they are. This is the beginning of the solution.
We Must Learn to Pray Well
If you want to see answers to prayer, pray that He teach you to pray. Pray for the courage to prioritize prayer. Pray for an increase in love and an increase in a desire for God. Pray to be open to God truly and not who you expect or want Him to be in your head. Do not think that you could possibly already fully comprehend the God who created the universe when we don’t even fully understand the universe! There is more, so much more. Our relationship with God will always be able to grow, because God is infinite.
But, Prayer is Hard
More excuses.
No longer.
The more challenging it is to fit your prayer into your day is simply the proof of your commitment to it’s pursuit. Do not be dismayed by challenge. Distraction and difficulty are proof of spiritual warfare. Busy-ness simply a sign of a need to reevaluate priorities or an opportunity to prove your seriousness in this pursuit.
Learn binding prayers (for Spiritual warfare), never rush, and always involve Mary.
She is the ultimate guide, the ultimate intercessor and the human who loves God most in all creation. She, like us, is child of the Father, but, unlike you, she is the spouse of the Spirit and the mother of the Son. She is the most intimately and intricately united to Him of all women ever and for always. He has given her literal authority over His heart as both HIs mother and His beloved. So, forget what you’ve been told. Get over your prejudices, open your mind and heart to the missing links you might just be suffering from. In her good graces, and with the power of her intercession, we cannot possibly fail.
(This book is most certainly not the sole resource on this topic but it does cover prayer, how to pray, and the role of Mary very well, so it could be quite helpful in this instance.)
Sell all that you have and buy the pearl.
Trust and believe that it is worth it.
Pray for greater faith.
Pray, period.
Amen.
