Spiritual Disciplines

Do you have a time laid out when and where you commune with God? This time is important for your spiritual health. For me personally I have a few things in my life that are triggers to remind me to spend time in prayer with God. (When I say prayer I mean a time where I do part of the talking and I spend part of the time being quiet and listening to God.)

One trigger for me to pray is when I can't sleep at night. Instead of fretting over sleeplessness I have learned to simply accept sleeplessness as an invitation from God to commune with him. It is actually an ideal time because there are no distractions and all is quiet. Another trigger for me to pray is when I ride my bike. This presents an ideal time to chew things over with God as the miles roll by. Perhaps my longest standing trigger for prayer is beginning the day in conversation with God.

For me waking up in the morning, waking up in the middle of the night, and riding my bike are 3 constants in my life that are constant invitations for me to stop and spend time with God. In fact some of the most significant conversations I have had with God have occurred in the middle of the night- God revealed his plans for me to adopt 2 of my children during these middle of the night prayer times.

Every so often I will commit to God a specified period of time for prayer. In August of 2000 I committed three days of time with God in prayer. In February of 2007 I committed one day of time to God in prayer. On both of these occasions my time in prayer was an odd combination of walking, driving, praying, questioning, listening, and crying. And on both of these occasions the result of time committed to God profoundly changed my life.

I took a picture during my 2007 prayer time that to this day brings back a flood of thoughts.

God is good and will transform us when we open ourselves to him. Find times to commune with God. You'll be glad you did.