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“Instead of never finding enough time for God in the midst of everything else, I had to work everything else around God.”
–Holly Pierlot in A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul, page 18

In reading A Mother’s Rule of Life, I was again convicted about something I’d thought of often while reading posts from Ann Voskamp.  I’m supposed to be praying without ceasing.  But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t also be setting aside time alone with God. 

Just because He is supposed to be woven throughout every moment of my schedule doesn’t mean He shouldn’t have spots of His own on my schedule, too. 

I don’t have to be legalistic about praying at set times.  But I don’t want other denominations or religions to put me to shame by their dedication to prayer.

So in addition to trying to wake early to spend time walking and talking with Him, I’m putting lines in my daily checklist that remind me to spend time drinking water, reading the Word, and worshipping Him.  The metaphor of the water of the Word helps me keep both in mind throughout my day—drinking water that will keep me thirsting and the thirst I need to have for the living water.

And when I glance at the clock to find out where I am in my schedule, I realize, it’s time to pray.  Sometimes I can sit down with a glass of water and soak in His Word in the peace and quiet of one of my cozy chairs.  Other times, I figuratively “throw the apron over my head” and pray in the middle of my kitchen. 

It doesn’t matter what time; just that I make time.  Because “prayer is like breathing: it is the air in which we survive spiritually.”

“The extent of prayer in one’s life is a direct function of whether something else has been set up as more important than God.”
–Ann Voskamp in “When It’s Hard to Find Time for God & Prayer”