BUSY. Yep, that's us, busy. Like, morning to night, running on a hamster wheel, busy. The day starts at 4am when the baby wakes to eat (or it starts at 12:00am- when she also eats- depends on your point of view.) I like to think my day ends when I go to sleep, but really it's not a linear path I live on, characterized by ends and beginnings. It's more like a circle with one day bleeding into the next. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, 4am. I feed her and she goes back to sleep (sometimes). I fight sleep as I think about the many things on my plate for that day. 6am comes around quickly and we're up; we are ALL up. There's a flurry of diapering, getting two little people dressed, making breakfast, which comes only after we move dirty dishes around so we can open our toaster oven...I know what your thinking: "Wow, they leave their dirty dishes from the night before piled up on the counter? Doesn't Danielle stay home all day? Don't you have a dishwasher? She must sitting around eating Bon bons or taking naps." Trust me, by the time I get to the end of the day you'll understand why doing the dishes is last on the priority list and sleep is número uno. Throw a couple tantrums from the 2 year old in that mix and you've got our morning! The rest of the day is a frantic blur of getting to the YMCA, getting back with just enough time to give the little one a nap, get lunch, fight the big one on nap and then trying to squeeze a billion "to-do's" into a small hour and half time frame and do it as quietly as possible. Shhh...
If you're a parent of littles or have been there you know how this feels and what the rest of the day looks like. By 8pm when both are asleep for the night, you say 'heck with the dishes!' And crawl into bed yourself, because you needed to be asleep an hour ago. So yeah, busy. I'm sure some this is just our season of life, but something tells me that many people (kids or no kids) feel this way.
So where is the time to pray? To sit down and honestly talk to God and listen too? I grew up with many telling me about the necessity for a 'devotion' time (reading the Bible, and praying mainly) and lots of those told me it should be in the morning, first thing! Otherwise how else would your day go well if you didn't commit it to the Lord with a 'devotion'? This model always felt a little rigid, but as a teen or a college student, or even a young married person I bought into it because it seemed feasible if I could just 'get my act together'. But as a parent, I was crushed by this expectation.
I. Am. Not. A. Morning. Person. I can barely breathe at 4am, let alone have a 'devotion'. And the rest of the day is so wrapped up in making sure my kids (and myself) do not have complete meltdowns that prayer time is difficult to come by and yet, it's in these times that I feel I need to be on my knees to God the most!
I have been learning a different way about prayer though. There is this itty-bitty verse in 1 Thessalonians where the authors of this letter encourage the people to "pray continuously" or "pray without ceasing." For some odd reason praying ALL the time, as opposed to a set time of prayer resounds with me. Probably because it works. I have been finding that 'keeping the line warm' with God allows me to keep the conversation going with him. Like a text message conversation (I know, using this as an example just confirms what a millenial I am), I can pick up with the conversation at any point in the day and in the same way, I keep my ears (or more like my heart/spirit) open to his replies of encouragement, guidance, and conviction. I do this now with my day to day struggles: when there's a lot on my plate (which is always) or when my girls are being particularly moody, or I am particularly moody (which is almost never ;-)), I talk to God about those things, asking for grace in the midst of stress. I do it with prayer requests from others, sticking those requests on a white board and when I pass by it, I just pray as I go. If I find myself in a moment of quiet (rare but happens on occasion) in the shower, at naptime, or lying awake at night, I talk to God about those in need or thank God or ask for forgiveness. It's just continuous. Now, I am not trying to sound über holy here, so let me serve myself some humble (apple) pie. This has only been by God's grace that I have been remembering to 'keep the line warm'. But it is my responsibility to choose to be obedient to this leading for those things to happen. I will be the first to tell you that I am not obedient all the time.
"The prayers of a righteous man are
powerful and effective."
What's the pay off? Freedom for one. There is not this crushing pressure to fulfill an expectation of a lengthy time of prayer. Not that a long period of prayer is bad or that you shouldn't ever do it. Maybe that's something for me to work on. I can watch an episode of television, I suppose I could try to use that time for prayer instead once in a while. But you shouldn't give up prayer because you can't reach the perfection of one particular model.
The other reason is that prayer is effective. The book of James mentions that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective (Thank you to the gym I used to box at for naming your facility the James 5:16 Center- I'll always remember that one.) Let's not forget that when we keep the line warm we are connecting with The Source of power- God Almighty. We are not just calling our girlfriend up on the phone to commiserate with in our daily struggles, but we are giving our lives over to someone who can do something about our worries, our stresses, our friend's need.
When we first started planning our trip to Haiti, we sent letters asking for prayer and financial support. I often wonder if people are praying for us and hope that they are because I know that prayer is effective. As you pray for our team, our trip, the missionaries, Lex and Renee Edme, and Haiti, remember that you are doing something powerful and effective. Would you 'keep the line warm' for us and for Haiti?
