By changing our words we can reframe our thinking and concept of time. Instead of saying "I don't have time" to do something, we can say "It is not a priority". Sometimes this is entirely appropriate and we can be satisfied with the things we choose not to do because we do not consider them valuable or important. For example, we might be entirely comfortable replacing "I don't have time to iron my towels" with "Ironing my towels is not a priority". However, we may feel less comfortable replacing, "I don't have time to go to the doctor about this health issue" with "Going to the doctor about this health issue is not a priority for me".
I have been working on incorporating one-on-one time with each of my children into every day. It has been a challenge but I know it is beneficial. If I were to say "I don't have time to spend one-on-one time with each child", I might be able to rationalise and accept not achieving this every day. If instead, I said, "Spending one-on-one time with each of my children is not a priority", it causes me to consider what is and whether I am willing to rearrange how I spend my time to accommodate what I consider a priority. This may be a process, but if it is a priority then in time the way I spend my time will reflect this.
Prioritise Prayer
Having spent several weeks meditating on and posting about The Parent Principle, Prioritise Prayer, I considered what it might be like for us to replace, "I don't have time to pray " with, "Praying is not a priority to me". If speaking about it this way makes us uncomfortable, then we have an opportunity to consider changing our lives so that our use of time reflects the priorities we want to have. This is likely to be a process for many of us, but the change that remains is often incremental rather than instantaneous.
When we prioritise communication with someone, we prioritise the person. When we prioritise prayer, we prioritise God. One of our parenting goals (more on this another time) should be to raise children who walk with the Lord. We do this by being parents who talk with the Lord. Regardless of whether we came to faith in God before or after we became parents we were each born capable of having a personal relationship with God. In order to be the parent God called me to be, I must first be the pray-er God created me to be.
Lives built on prayer
Prayer and our relationship with God are not things to fit around everything else we do or something to be built into our existing schedules. To prioritise prayer is to fit our lives around spending time communicating with God. Prayer is foundational and we must build our lives on our relationship with God. Granted, finding extended slots for uninterrupted devotion is more challenging for some than others. Perhaps our concept of what it means to pray or spend time with God needs to change and become more inspired by the Holy Spirit than religion or tradition. Devotion is not something to be restricted to a time and space, it is a lifestyle.
It may be necessary to change how and when we pray in different stages and seasons of parenting. However, this simple reframing of words can change how we perceive and use the time we have been blessed with. If we consider prayer to be the "one thing" we seek to do each day, rather than the thing we try to squeeze into our day, we move from trying to find time to pray, to praying. Even if the prayer is simply, "Help me to prioritise prayer".
Think Pray Pause
The one thing I ask of the LORD - the thing I seek most - is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple. Psalm 27:4 NLT
Read the Scripture then think about it, use it to pray, and pause to listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say. Do this in any order or configuration that you like.
You will find more reflections on Prioritise Prayer @theparentprinciples on Instagram.
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