The Most Important Activity of the Day
I refuse to let prayer be the one to struggle to fit into my schedule.
Meeting with God in prayer is the most important activity of my day. It isn’t working on my career, or eating or sleeping, or even spending time with my family. I don't necessarily neglect these other important activities. I still make sure they are a vital part of my life. But I reserve the lion's share of my day to spending time with God through various spiritual exercises.
I know many people who claim that prayer is the most important thing in their lives. But if you were to examine their actual daily habits, I wonder if it would make you question whether this is true or not. I reserve the best times of my day to prayer and I spend a large amount of time in prayer each and every day (I average 3.5 hours per day). This is to say that I don't just pay lip service to the idea of prayer. I make no apologies for living in this way because I know the tremendous value of it for my life today, tomorrow, and for eternity. In fact, if I've spent an appropriate amount of time with the Lord, all the other areas of my life get to benefit from that. I show up better at work. I show up better to my family. I show up better in every interaction I have with others. I show up better to every problem or situation.
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul encouraged his disciple with these words: "Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come'' (1 Tim. 4:7-8 ESV). I really believe that the spiritual training that I do each day to become as godly as I can will eventually have a substantial impact for the present life and the life to come. So, I don't apologize for spending so much time every day working on myself and my relationship with Christ. I believe that it will change me for the better. It will shape me to be a godly man. And that godly man will hopefully show up to work, to relationships, to serving others, and to the many challenges in life.
I find ways each day to prioritize spending time with God in prayer and meditation. This usually means I get up earlier than everybody else in the house so that I can spend a good hour with the Lord in solitude. This also means that there are certain things that I've had to give up such as playing video games or reducing things such as reading books. I simply don't have as much time left in my day after I've taken care of all the important things in my life. But I refuse to let prayer be the one to struggle to fit into my schedule. Instead, I will let the less important stuff such as reading or exercising struggle to find time in my schedule. Even though I can often find time for these less vital activities, it's a challenge to fit them all in. But that's the point: I would rather that these less important things struggle to find time in my life rather than allowing prayer to be the one to struggle to fit in.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
