Jesus in Pray (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Devotional thought of the day::

In God alone there is rest for my soul, from him comes my safety; ²  he alone is my rock, my safety, my stronghold so that I stand unshaken.Psalm 62:1-2 (NJB)

448  You haven’t been praying? Why, because you haven’t had time? But you do have time. Furthermore, what sort of works will you be able to do if you have not meditated on them in the presence of the Lord, so as to put them in order? Without that conversation with God, how can you finish your daily work with perfection? Look, it is as if you claimed you had no time to study because you were too busy giving lessons… Without study you cannot teach well. Prayer has to come before everything. If you do not understand this and put it into practice, don’t tell me that you have no time: it’s simply that you do not want to pray!

In our society today, many of us have become expert at neglecting ourselves. About not fulfilling who we are.

We surround ourselves with things, that help us believe that we are living the good life. A home, a nice car, for me – if not the latest tech-toy then at least some powerfully fun ones.  We lose ourselves in television series ( Personally I like “Blacklist” and “reality shows” (anyone hear been recently abadoned on a desert island or locked in a home with 15 strangers, or asked to stand and perform on a stage in front of thousands – Reality?)  We have our careers, our degrees, even those sacrifices we make for others, and willingly let people acknowledge them.  We don’t mind others knowing that we are martyrs, sacrificing our fulfillment in order to help others gain their dreams.

Even then the accolades will soon sound hollow, for our treasure has been revealled to be empty, and we realize how much we neglect ourselves.

With all the things we do, with our physical and psychological coaches, with self help books and seminars to become the best in our field, with lives everyone else might consider succesful, we find ourselves neglected, wweary, worn…

Why?

Simple, because we do not take time, never mind enough time, to sit and talk to God. To sit and rest in His presence, allowing Him to talk to us, to meditate on His love, to hand over to him every burden we have. Do we talk over our work, our home life, our free time, our decisions with God, or does He not have any input into them?

How often do we pray?  Is it both “scheduled”  (helping us to realize He is importnat enough to have a time in our schedules) and random/extemporaneous?  Is our realtionship with Him a part of our life, or is it our life?

Most of us know the right responses to the questions above, but are our answers reflective of our life?

I get the feeling I am not going to like this chapter of St. Josemaria’s “the Furrow”.  I am not going to lie looking myself in the face and realizing how much I neglect myself, by not spending time with God.

I am also sure I need, maybe even desperately need to encounter Christ more each day than I presently do.

Would you pray I would?  Would you pray you will as well?

Let’s stop neglecting ourselves by neglecting God… but I pray we encounter Him more and more fully, and may we know the depth of His love.  AMEN.

Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1986-1991). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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