In the busyness of life, I often found it hard to stop when I had momentum. Or, when I just wanted to get things done, I would hesitate to take a break, and put it off to the side until I felt complete, or completely exhausted. As a first grade teacher, there would be times when I would press through my free periods to get things done, hardly stopping to take a moment to breathe. As a mom, there were times when I would just focus on my to-do list, trying to fit everything in between diaper changes, meal prep, and feedings. And it was even harder when two of my kids were super light sleepers, which resulted in many short naps here and there. It was only when I could lay my head on my pillow at the end of the night that I felt I could catch my breath and pray for my cup to be refilled as I slept.
I somehow got into the rhythm of doing and getting things done. And I’m not going to lie: It felt really good to check those boxes off and do all the things. But all in all, I was creating a life that put God on the side. Yes, I would pray through tears when things didn’t go right, like the time I had to clean the bedsheets three times in the middle of the night when the stomach flu hit our home, or when I was just downright exhausted and couldn’t get my baby to stop crying while trying to get him to sleep. But I never stopped in the middle of my day to just sit with God. And by sit with God, I mean just sit with Him. Just stop, pause, put things down, and focus only on Him—kind of sit with Him. Who has time for that, right?
For some of you, like me, that might just be a rhythm you’ve had your whole life: Pray in the morning and/or before bed, and maybe if there’s an emergency, there’s prayer somewhere in the middle. But I don’t think that’s the kind of prayer life God has in mind for us….
“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 CSB
This season, my focus is to connect more with God through my prayer life. I’m going to stop for 5-10 minutes in the middle of my day and I’m going to pray. And for these midday prayers, I really want to focus on just being present with God. I’m not asking for things, nor am I trying to fill the time with my voice. I want to just sit and be in His presence and let His Spirit refill my soul with peace, rest, and encouragement, and to remember who I am in Him.
The first day I started, it felt weird and uncomfortable. I closed the door to my room, and sat on the floor. I recited a pre-written prayer to help get me started, and after that, I just sat and listened. Immediately, random thoughts kept popping in my head, and at first I kept getting annoyed with myself for lack of focus. But then I remembered a good friend telling me not to worry and get discouraged when that happens. Simply acknowledge the thought, and set it aside. Then take a deep breath and refocus on Jesus. Just Jesus. Of course the thoughts kept popping in, and I kept setting them aside, and I kept breathing. Before I knew it, I spent five minutes setting aside thoughts. But I decided to not count it all as a loss. My prayer muscle, just like every other muscle, needs some time to grow in technique and endurance. (And maybe yours does too!)
So I’d love to challenge you this week to just sit with God for 5 minutes in the middle of your day. Set an alarm, a reminder, a specific block on your calendar, just as you would for any other appointment, because this is your most IMPORTANT appointment of the day, wouldn’t you say? Then book this appointment again for tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.
Though the idea is to not miss any appointments, you will find that you might have to miss one. Make your best effort not to, but if you must, reschedule it for before or after, or better yet, include God in that whole other appointment! The intention is not to be legalistic about our relationship, but to have some guardrails set in place to help us to consciously prioritize our priority of growing our relationship with Jesus.
(Side note: there is not “right” way to pray, so I’m not going sit here and say that you need to pray for x amount of time, or with a certain physical posture, or out loud or in absolute silence. Jesus does set some good guidelines. For instance, He says to close your door and to pray in secret (Matthew 6:6). This could be taken literally or figuratively, although I think BOTH ways are great choices. Shut out everything physically and mentally and meet in that sacred spot for you and God. It could be a physically sacred spot, or it could be a sacred time in your day that you devote and dedicate just for Him. Turn all devices off, and make it a very sacred space for you, too.)
As we move through this season, let’s let our actions really start to mirror the intentional spiritual life we’d love to have, and let’s reprioritize our time with God fight to keep Him first in our lives: above work, above the kids, even above our spouse. And if we can get in the habit of meeting with Him for 5-10 minutes in our day, we can grow that to 15-30 minutes, and soon we can be integrating Him and being in His presence in every moment of our day. Consistent prayer is the goal, my friends. So let’s start small today.
Grace and peace.
Want to spend more intentional time with Jesus? I created a five day devotional, Small Steps Towards Jesus, that can help you create those intentional steps towards abiding in Christ. Just click the link below to get the devotional sent right to your inbox!