Prayer: A Discipline for Lent

It's not that we are against solitude and prayer or afraid of examining our interior selves, it's just that we are. . . wait for it. . . TOO BUSY.  Most days, we don't pray simply because we just don't get around to it.

For most of us our days are just too buys. We have smartphones and radios that stimulate us before we are fully awake. We are texting our friends, checking Facebook and e-mails, watching the news or listening to music before we even shower or have breakfast.  The drive to work follows the same pattern; stimulated and preoccupied, we're listening to the radio, talking on our cell phones and planning the days agenda.  We then return home to TV, conversation, activities and all sorts of preoccupations. And then, it's time for bed where we may watch more TV or maybe read or even check email and Facebook one last time. Finally, yes, finally we fall asleep.  Was there time to think, to pray, to wonder, to be restful, to be grateful for the life God has given us? Did we take time for love, for health. . . . for God?  We just moved through our day.

We want to experience EVERYTHING! We don't want to miss anything and we don't want our kids to miss anything. We are an experiential people, hungry for all the experiences that are going on around us.  Henri Nouwen, put it like this: "I want to pray, but I also don't want to miss out on anything--television, movies, socializing with friends, drinking in the world." Because we don't want to miss out on anything, prayer has to be a discipline.  When we take time to sit and pray, our natural craving for experience begins to protest.

I think we all really crave solitude. . . down time. . . time to be with our families. . . time to just BE. We imagine it as a time of peace, where it is quiet, where we are walking along the shore of a lake, watching a sunset, sitting by a fireplace watching the dancing flames.  But most of the time, we make solitude another activity, something we have to do. Solitude is a way of being present. It's a sense, within our ordinary life, that life is precious, sacred and ENOUGH.

Your heart is meant to rest in God.  It's the way we were created.  The reason we are restless and strive to fill it up with experiences is because we are looking for that rest in God. We just don't want to admit it. Our restlessness can lead us into a prayer life if we let it. In fact it can lead us into a deeper prayer life, the kind that leads us into transformation, the kind that won't leave you feeling empty inside.

So, as you begin this season of Lent, let's commit together to carve out a time everyday to pray. 5 or 10 minutes less TV maybe. . . you know where you can get a few minutes of time to be in God's presence..  . .you just have to do it.

Prayer:  Dear God, as we begin this Holy season of Lent, let us not be so busy searching for experiences to soothe our restless minds and bodies but help us to crave and search for times for solitude with you. Help us to take time to pray, to wonder, to be ever grateful for our life with you.
Amen.