Business stuff. My work life has been chock full of stuff lately. As a result, that means my husband, children and apartment all get less time allotted to them. Oh, yeah. And my prayer life usually gets short shrift, too.
I miss praying. I really do. When I feel myself losing my temper, or becoming anxious, or feeling the stress of many pressures weighing me down, I sometimes wish I had taken more time to pray.
I am not particularly a morning person. (The clock on my computer says the time is 11:50 pm right now. Case in point.) However, I now am finding some benefit to getting up early in the morning—earlier than I would prefer, most times—to pray.
From time to time, I remember Martin Luther put a high priority on prayer. So high, in fact, that I cannot ever measure up. Take a look at one of his quotes: “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” Luther’s kind of example makes me feel pretty insignificant, for sure. But I need to persevere. Continue to pray. And I can remember that people today are quite similar to the people of the 1500’s.
Luther had many faults, but he also had a great amount of courage. It takes a sizable amount of courage to stand up to a large religious institution and point out some glaring flaws. I can relate to Luther, as far as both of us having a great many flaws. Please, God, help me to have just a little of his tremendous courage and persistence in the face of opposition and animosity. (Except I don’t particularly want to face the tremendous kind of enemies and resistance that he did.)
Thank God that I don’t need to deal with problems the size of Martin Luther’s problems. My problems are sizable enough! When work (and all its attendant necessary stuff) gets to be cumbersome, or frantic, or even deathly dull, what choice do I have? I can pray. And God has promised to be right by my side. Thanks for God’s promise from the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 41:10. It’s stated in a verse of one of my all-time favorite hymns. “Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed/For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.”
What else can I say, except—thanks, God.
Let’s pray. Dear God, thanks for the example shown to us by those who have gone before—like Martin Luther. I remember his faults, and I see mine as well. Forgive me, God. I praise You for Your forgiveness of his faults, and mine, too. Help me to follow his good example of prayer. Thanks for the intimacy You offer us, any time. Amen.
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