Praying When Busy
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding . . . .
Col. 1:9
Prayer is an ongoing dialogue-a real and intimate conversation-between the Abba Father of Jesus and us, his beloved children. Since prayer is a conversation between us and God, we can expect to be heard by the Holy Spirit and to be spoken to by God. Our conversation with God involves sharing, asking questions, clarifying, and responding. Prayer opens our hearts to God’s presence, our ears to his direction, our minds to his will, and our spirit to his great love. Prayer makes us great receivers of God’s most gracious grace.
It is always tempting to pray later. So much needs to be done: work to finish, children to school, email to answer, phone calls to return, etc. We commit to pray after we accomplish the needed tasks of day. Then at the end of the day, we find that we never prayed at all. We fail to realize that our tasks leave us empty and drained because our activities have not been saturated in prayer. By not making time for prayer, we were not available to receive God’s most gracious grace.
The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet time and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray does not offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love . . . and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure.
Paul C. Miller, Our Praying Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2009).