My prayer life has drifted lately. Meetings, travels, and all the other exercises of life have drawn me away from the times of reflection and quiet that our souls need. What’s curious is that this happened without me even realizing it. My times of prayer continued, but my focus and energy had waned. Nothing new about this. It’s called life, I suppose, and such drifting is the part of the cyclical nature of a spiritual walk. But it’s still not what I want.
In the last week I have intentionally pushed the cycle toward prayer. My friend and colleague Mark Parcher and I spent time in prayer for all of the PathLight friends, I spent lots of time in prayer during the last Westmont Trustee meetings, and I have been more intentional about looking for specific ways to pray about those closest to me. It’s rewarding when I finally get around to doing it!
Came across a wonderful bit of prose from Horatius Bonar, titled “Time For Everything But Prayer” from Herald of His Coming. Yeah, I know, I’d never heard of him either. But sometimes the best insights come from the folks that fly under the historical radar. The quote below might be somewhat dated and perhaps even a little harsh to our modern ears … but the message is as valid as ever.
Why is there so little anxiety to get time to pray? Why is there so little forethought in the laying out of time and employments so as to secure a large portion of each day for prayer?
Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro, yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many meetings with our fellow-men, yet so few meetings with God?
Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His child hold fellowship together as if they could never part?
It is the want of these solitary hours that not only injures our own growth in grace but makes us such unprofitable members of the church of Christ, and that renders our lives useless.