So, Just How Important Prayer Really Is?

"Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice." Psalm 55:17.

"Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." Daniel 6:10.

So I'm really busy lately.

I have a part time job as an interfaith organizer for a non-profit. I love my job, but on most days I leave the office mentally exhausted.

On top of that I'm also part of an ecumenical missionary order where we do ministry among the immigrant population in Oakland.

Add to that wedding planning and you have a recipe for near burnout.

Unfortunately, my predicament is hardly unusual. In a culture that values productivity and achievements, most of us are probably overworked.

And then you want me to pray? Who has time to pray in a schedule like this?

That worked for people like Jesus and His disciples. And those monks who have nothing to do but pray and get a tonsure.

So just how important prayer really is?

I've been slowly convicted of the importance of prayer, especially during seasons where I divulged into undisciplined prayer. After this period of neglect and dryness, I would usually restart my prayer life, only to fall back again into a sparse prayer life once again.

I believe my undisciplined prayer life came from a lack of conviction of the importance of prayer. But before we go there, why is prayer so important anyways?

Relationship. It's all about relationships.

Christianity, in a way, is a right relationship to God and to others. We are connected to God through our work  of peace and justice and righteousness towards others, but also through a basic way of connecting to others and the Great Other: communication.

Take out communication and a relationship is severely damaged.

This relationship between us and God is described as a covenant, the culmination of which is a wedding feast. Can a marriage survive without communication? Can friendship thrive without contact and communication?

Communication is therefore, the bedrock of relationships. 

So, I also love eating. I mean, honestly, who doesn't? It's not like we ago around hearing people complain about how "we always have to eat and stuff".

So I eat. Three times a day. Most of us do the same, busy or not. 

My point here is not to go around making you feel guilty about putting up excuses for not having enough time to pray, and yet how we still have time to eat. I struggle with the same, so I hope I'm not coming across like a fanatic who makes Westboro's Baptists cringe.

My point simply is this: if we consider prayer vital, we would have no other option than to make time for it.

Not there yet? No worries, neither am I. My only hope is to inspire us to get there!

So for 2015 I have been trying to get there. First, I am trying (emphasis on the word trying) to get up early to set aside time for morning prayer and study. I have been more or less successful in this. The benefits for this are so great that I have decided to add more times of prayer.

It has always been my desire to have scheduled time for prayers. I'd love to be able to stop and practice morning prayer, midday prayer, and evening prayer.

The three times a day prayer has been a staple not only from early Christianity, but for Jews, as evidenced by the passages at the beginning of this post from King David and Daniel. In fact, this is still a daily practice of many Jews nowadays.

I feel God is calling me to lead this prayer life, and to make it a point that such life is possible, in the midst of the crazy business of life with family and all. No need to isolate from the world and into monasteries. 

This sounds really like an impossibility, but I'm determined to prove that is not. 

I have been practicing praying three times a day, using the Liturgy of the Hours, for this past week. It hasn't been easy.

Sometimes I have to pray evening prayer on crowded buses, while there is a lot of noise that can distract me.

Sometimes I have to leave my food to cool off for a while before I finish my midday prayer.

I have been using different liturgies as well. Sometimes I do a Celtic morning prayer, then use the midday prayer from the Common Prayer book, and finish with Vespers using the Catholic Breviary.

It is difficult, but I love it.

And honestly, relationships are difficult. It is probably the most difficult thing we are called to do.

And honestly, relationship with God is the one that is easiest for me to set aside, because I know how patient and merciful He is, and He will not simply smite me because I failed to pray one day. I know He is there, the great Initiator, calling me, always glad to receive me without punishment.

I take advantage of His grace, mercy, and love.

As I write this, it breaks my heart to admit it. I have taken advantage of His grace, mercy and love, and failed to give Him the attention and time He desires from me. This loving Father yearns to be with me, and I ignore Him today because I know He will be there tomorrow.

How could I have ignored you for so long, Love of loves? How many days did You patiently wait for me to return and how little regard you had for Your Majesty as you ran to receive me?

It breaks my heart. You never shunned me for being away. You never said "How dare you ignore me?!" All You did was receive me as if I had never failed. All You did was console me and dried the tears that this hurting world left me.

Oh dear Lord, may we never fail to ignore You!

Do you struggle to find time for prayer? If you have a family with kids, how do you find the time to pray? What are the ways you have managed to find more time with God?