From my journal:
April 9., 2013—It’s another morning in the life of the Ward family. A busy day in the midst of a busy midst of a
busy week, in the midst of a busy month, in the midst of a busy life!
Laurie has an early
meeting today, so everyone had to be up and moving early. Since Laurie had to
leave early, I dropped the kids off at school and daycare. The car is scheduled
for service later this morning.
I have about an hour, so
I search out the ubiquitous Golden Arches. Granted the “food” is greasy, but
it's tasty and, most of all, QUICK! As I sit here, I feel led to pull out my
phone and journal—writing down my
prayers to God. As I sit and consume food for my body, I also nourish my spirit…
Busyness seems like a "way of life" for me these days. For a
family of four trying to juggle two careers, ministry activities, two young
kids, and all the normal tasks and trials of daily life together, we are
virtually always on the go—and often
tired as a result. It's rare to find a
"quiet moment" unless we intentionally plan it. (We have to schedule it, just like everything
else we do.) For someone who by nature
is an introvert, and seemingly can’t get enough “me-time,” this can be a
challenge.
 |
| Can man live on "fast food" alone? |
I do the best I can to find “balance” in the midst of our
busyness, but it is not always easy. Our family eats out frequently—probably
too often. I have to confess that this wasn't my first visit to McDonalds this week. In fact, we
typically consume "fast food" more than once a week. I say that we do
it because we must, and although we
can and do debate that fact in our family, there is no denying that “fast food”
is a reality in our very modern, über-busy world! Big
Macs, Chicken McNuggets, and
countless other “edible items,” have come to fill a needed niche for an “on-the-go”
society.
“Fast food” is okay
in moderation. It can nourish and
sustain a human being for a while. It’s
when we try to live on it almost exclusively on it that we run into problems. We put on
weight, feel lethargic, and/or have other health issues resulting from
consuming too much concentrated sugar, salt, and fatty grease.
I believe something similar can happen in our spiritual life
if we aren’t careful. About halfway through my McGriddles meal today, it hit me that I have not had much quality
time with God recently. Hardly a
blinding revelation, I suppose, given the pace of life I have just described. But sometimes we get so caught up in getting
through each day, that we can become oblivious to what ought to be obvious.
Now don't get me wrong; I talk to God all the time. I have
learned that I don't have to be in a particular place or posture to pray. I can
and do practice the Presence of God often,
“chatting” with God about what I sense God is doing through me—or despite me—in
a given situation. This is a very helpful practice to know about and use given
the ever-present reality of a “too busy” life.
On the other hand, much
like a diet that is too heavy on “fast food,” trying build and maintain a
relationship based almost exclusively on “quick conversations” with God probably
isn’t best for my long-term spiritual health.
Short little prayers aren't going to cut it
anymore.—Staci
Eldredge
My experience suggests that Staci’s quote above is right on
target. She and her husband John were in a very "intense" time in
their life and ministry when she uttered those words. I am quite sure it would
have been easier for her to say:
"I'm okay. I'll get by with ‘quick prayers’ until things calm down."
Who would fault her if she felt that way? We might not always say it out loud, but isn’t
this what we all tend to do when we're “too busy” living life? God gets put on the proverbial “back burner”
as we scurry around doing the best we can to get through each day.
What I think Staci
realized, however, was that making time for more extended times with God on a
regular basis is vital to a thriving spiritual life. It’s not really optional and—though it might seem counterintuitive—that’s especially
true when it feels like we're "too busy" for it.
Staci knew all too well that when we make an intentional effort
to set aside time for extended conversation with God, we are able to “go deeper
with God” and get to know each other on a deeper level than is possible with
“short prayers” alone.
Here is an analogy that might be helpful. In today’s world, friendships can certainly
be born on-line or through social media like Facebook or Twitter. My marriage is a living testament to that[1]! That said, my Facebook friends tend to be people with whom I have an existing
relationship, and I use Facebook to
maintain our connection during the times we can’t see each other face-to-face.
We might view “practicing the Presence of God” as the
spiritual equivalent of posting a Facebook
status update. This spiritual practice
tends to be most effective for maintaining an already well-established
relationship with God.
Sometimes—like this morning—when I am busy, I feel a little guilty
spending some time with God—writing the words that became this article. Inevitably, I am aware that there are at
least three or four other things I ought
to be doing with this time. Spending
time with God sometimes seems like just another item on a “to do” list that
already seems too long! Stopping for a few minutes to pray, meditate, or journal
seems somehow wrong. After all there's
all this "other stuff" that needs doing. How can I justify sitting in McDonalds for almost an hour, jotting
words on my i-Phone, “talking” to
someone I can’t even see?
But then I wonder if this is precisely “the Enemy’s”
game? However you conceive of that “entity”
which opposes God’s will being done in this world, I think we can all agree
that it would be threatened by—and actively
oppose—our efforts to grow closer to God.
It would make sense, then, that this “Enemy” would want us to doubt the
validity and value of the time we spend with God, and would throw up “barriers”
that make it harder for us to connect with God—using whatever means
necessary. As we become more aware of that
spiritual reality, we may have a different
lens with which to interpret certain circumstances that seem to impede our
relationship with God—i.e., it may not always be “random stuff” that happens to
us.
While I emphatically don’t
mean we should blame “the Devil” for every bad thing that happens in our lives[2],
I do think we should take the existence
of evil more seriously than we sometimes do. We should be aware that as we seek to progress
in our walk with God, we will have to intentionally choose to “go deeper.” Growth won’t just happen; we’ll have to work
at it—and our efforts might well be opposed.
Whenever I sense the Spirit’s impulse in my life, I try to
pay attention and respond—as opposed to “pushing it down” and going about my
day. God sometimes uses this prompting
to show me exactly what I need to be doing in this moment.
These Spirit impulses
can function like a warning light on the “dashboard” of my life—telling me I've
been living on "spiritual fast food" for too long. At the risk of sounding cliché, in these
moments: "I'm too busy NOT to
pray." It may not always seem
like the “logical” choice for how to spend my time right now, but when it comes
to walking with God, logic only takes you so far. At some point, you step out in faith and
simply obey God’s voice. Sometimes, I just need to be intentional to create
more space for God—and trust that all of the other activities on my “to do”
list will find proper balance in due course.
If I am in
relationship with God, in frequent contact with Jesus, and in step with the Spirit,
then I will be a person who is able to do what needs doing when it needs to get
done. That is the essence of a spiritually disciplined life.
[1] I would argue that, even in the cases of relationship
that begin on-line or via social media, in order for the relationship to
flourish, the “friends” eventually need to meet in person. Such was the case for Laurie and me. After getting to know each other on-line, we
met face-to-face, and our relationship progressed from there.
[2] For example, we lost our infant daughter about five
years ago. I don’t view that as a
punishment by “the Enemy,” but I do acknowledge the existence of a coherent
force in our lives that seeks to oppose God’s goodness and could use a tragedy or other life circumstance to get our focus away from God.
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