The 24 hours that we are each given each day is a limited resource that every single human being is given equally and something which no person given more than the other. In that sense, it is truly unique because it is not the case for every other resource that we have in life. Our energy, skills, talents and finances are at our disposal in different levels and quantities. But not time. How we use each 24-hour day reveals, among other things, what we are truly invested in, what we are most passionate about and what value we place on those things and activities. We would then naturally apportion only a small portion of those 24-hours to things that we don’t highly value and conversely, apportion a higher portion of it to things that are important. What takes the lion’s share of this resource is what also takes the lion’s share of our hearts.
This same principle is similarly applicable to our prayer life as well. We all know that there is a need to pray, and this doesn’t just apply to Christians. All religions and faiths promote and encourage their devotees to spend time in prayer, and for different reasons. In the Catholic tradition, the need for prayer on a daily basis is something that is crucial but as a priest, I hear very often the lament (often in confession) that there is a constant struggle to not only pray, but to be faithful in praying.
When I encounter someone who tells me this, I often ask if one finds time to pray, or makes time to pray. The response is usually a quizzical look, almost saying to me “what’s the difference?” In truth, the difference is night and day.
When one finds time to pray, or to do anything, one doesn’t give it much priority. One only is able to do it when one has a pocket of spare time, not unlike how one is only able and willing to give to the needy beggar when one reaches into one’s pocket and happensto find loose change. Or when one is working with fabric to make a garment, and it is only when one finds that one has scraps left over after the garment is made, is one willing to make something for one’s child.
Making time for prayer is completely different. When one makes time for prayer, one purposefully carves out and makes sacrosanct that apportioned time for God. Other things circumnavigate and orbit around this non-negotiable time that is a priority and it is thus considered one’s ‘prime’ time. This denotes the value one puts on prayer, and also denotes the value one puts on one’s relationship with God.
People who exercise assiduously will know what I am talking about. It sets their day right when they exercise daily. If it is missing for whatever reason, the day is off-kilter and it can negatively affect one’s mood and general disposition for the whole day. The reason this is so is because one has placed so much value in the effect of having raised one’s heart rate for that period of time, resulting in having one’s energy levels raised to face the rest of the day. It is for this reason that many know that they simply cannot just exercise when they find time to do it. If they have this approach toward exercise, they will not reap the numerous benefits that regular and dedicated exercise can give. A heavily overweight person who exercises “as and when” is not going to end up trimmer, fitter and healthier.
This is the same attitude that we need to take to our prayer life. No one who prays only ‘as and when’ is going to establish much of a deep relationship with God, let alone a loving one. It’s the same in one’s relationship with one’s spouse in marriage. Imagine only talking to one another ‘as and when’, as compared to when a couple ‘makes time’ to a committed time of dialogue and communication where feelings and thoughts are shared on a deep, regular basis, or worse, communicating only when one needs something from the other.
Being committed to prayer is important because it sets the tone of how committed we are to all other things in life, including the commitments to our families, our spouses and our work. Being committed to prayer and establishing a loving relationship with God in prayer sets the foundation for living out loving our neighbor as well.
The time when one prays also plays a pivotal role. If you only have time to pray once in the day, I’d highly recommend that you make that the first thing you do in the morning upon waking than the last thing you do before you go into dreamland at night. This is because when you pray upon rising, you are able to consecrate the day ahead and have the intention of giving God the next 18 or more hours to glorify God by your life. It’s a bit like writing God a blank cheque. If we don’t do that, and only pray after a long and hard days’ work, our prayer is most likely going to be filled with ‘could haves’ and ‘should haves’ where we are regretful in having lived for ourselves than for God and his purposes.
I like to imagine that when we do consecrate our day to God in the morning, and give him that blank cheque, that when our day closes, the amount drawn on that cheque would be something which truly pleases God, and does not end up being one that will bounce.
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