Yesterday we spoke about how part of being prepared is being flexible and part of being flexible is knowing how and when. Knowing the times that we have in our day that lend themselves to prayer is vital to an active prayer life. If you only try to pray in the morning and you have a hard time getting out of bed, chances are your prayer life isn’t doing so hot.
One of the things that I appreciate about the Flylady (remember her from the intro to these Advent experiences?) is her appreciation of daily maintenance. Rather than having one giant, overwhelming laundry day, she recommends one load a day. “A load a day keeps the chaos away.” Start one in the morning, move it to the dryer at lunchtime. Fold and put away in the evening.
Being prepared means maintaining the work you’ve done so that you can build on top of it. So far we have looked at the Sign of the Cross and considered what times of our day are best suited to concentrated moments of prayer. Today, let’s put those two things together.
From now until the end of Advent (well, ideally, from now until you see God face to face), choose one specific time of the day that you can pause and pray the Sign of the Cross. Write a reminder in your calendar, put a post-it on the refrigerator, pin a note to your cubicle, however and wherever you need to put your reminder(s) do so. Have one time each day that you pause and connect with God (check back on the first post to remind yourself of all the different things you are doing when you pray this simple prayer).
At the same time, Jesus, who at the supreme moment of death entrusts himself totally to the hands of God the Father, communicates to us the certainty that, however harsh the trial, however difficult the problems, however acute the suffering may be, we shall never fall from God’s hands, those hands that created us, that sustain us and that accompany us on our way through life, because they are guided by an infinite and faithful love. – Pope Benedict XVI, 15 Feb. 2012 General Audience
***What is your best time for prayer? Mine is right after putting the girls down for their quiet time/nap time and after I’ve gotten John going on whatever his quiet time activity is. Usually around 1pm or so. Please feel free to share your experience, thoughts and offer support to one another in the comments, on Twitter with the #DailyGraces or on the Facebook page.
Daily Graces 