New Year's Resolution: Devotional

I said in my last post that I was resolved to pray the hours this year, but in a modified manner.

The modification? I’m praying an Anglican rosary three times a day (sometime between 7-9 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-9 p.m.). I know, it’s REALLY not the full prayers and readings. But . . . it’s more than I was doing before.

I really liked Jen’s idea of having “hard stops” in her days. And, well, I thought about how I could modify that idea for my life. I have twins who don’t sleep very much during the day and who like to eat books, so I knew my hard stops would have to be small and, er, non-edible. (I do read books, btw, I just read them at the table or at night.) Also, I wanted to avoid the problem of the beginning exerciser – you know the old story where someone inactive resolves to become fit and goes out and runs five miles and is in so much pain the next day that she never exercises again? In times past I’ve regularly read Morning Prayer, so I know how good regular devotional hours are, but I haven’t been able to really do that since the twins came home.

I admit, getting into the habit of three-times-a-day prayer has been hard. Most days it’s been two times a day. I’m still trying to learn where the best places in those two hour segments are. I’m not sure when, for example, during the 5-7 slot, I ought to fit a hard stop. That’s the time when kids are waking up from naps and need attention and nursing, when dinner needs to be finished off, when my husband comes home and we eat. Occasionally, I’ve worked one-handed in the kitchen, with my beads in the other hand.

But it’s more prayer than regularly was in my days before. Or at least, more structured. Even if I’m cooking or nursing while I’m praying, I’m praying. In some ways, it’s a reminder that all the work I do is aimed toward pleasing my Lord, because actually saying prayers while I work brings into stark relief WHOM my duties are a duty TO. (Excuse my grammar.)

The easier resolution is the one I mentioned in a previous post: reading through the Bible again this year. That’s easily done while nursing the babies down for naps or bedtime, though it’s made much easier with this well-organized website. It’s a treat, really, to swallow whole chapters of scripture at a time and not worry about whether I’m reading the part I ought to be reading. (Anyone else ever do this? Sit down to read an epistle and wonder if your time wouldn’t really be better spent in one of the gospels? “What? can’t you ever read anything except Ephesians?” “Sure, but I LOVE Ephesians, stop guilting me . . .”)

So that’s it! It’ll be interesting to see how the Lord uses these disciplines in my life this year. Neither is terribly onerous, but that’s good, because it means it’s likely I can keep them up. I know probably everyone reading is way ahead of me on this, but if you are having trouble doing a regular devotional exercise, I encourage you to pick something really small – like saying the Jesus prayer on the way to work, or reading slowly through the gospel of John (or Ephesians!) over the course of a month, or saying the Lord’s prayer every night with your kids, or singing one hymn from the hymnal every day – and just doing it regularly. It doesn’t have to be the right thing (though you should listen to see if there is something particular He wants you to do), it just has to be something you actually do. The Lord responds to our every turning toward Him, and takes our smallest efforts as a gift of love, the same way you take the affection of your children, imperfect and silly as it is.

I always think of this sort of thing as holding a landing strip open in the jungle. You can’t bring in the cavalry, but you can keep a small section of the fields clear for the planes to land. It’s not your job to bring in the troops that save the war, just to be faithful in making room for them.

I hope that metaphor makes sense. You can’t sanctify yourself; your job is just to faithfully be open to the movements of the Holy Spirit. Pick a way, any way, to regularly do that, and He will take you up on it, as long as you are doing it out of love and obedience.

Okay, off my soapbox. I promise the sermon was as much for me as for anyone reading.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell