If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m often full of great new ideas and initiatives. But what that actually means is that many old ideas and initiatives have fallen by the wayside. So when I extol the beauty of a new bible reading scheme or system of prayer, it possibly (=usually) indicates that the last system I extolled has somewhat petered out…
Last night Sharonxx asked the following:
I have tried to set myself the simple ‘resolution’ this year to pray at least once a day [either an Office or personal prayer], to read one small devotional a day and to do one bible study each day [using T.Wright…for Everyone]. I work 9-3, I have an 8 year old son and I’m married….pretty normal on the face of it….so why can’t I achieve even these simple goals??
Any tips? How do you do it with your busy life and family commitments? Indeed, DO you always manage to keep up with the bible reading etc.??
Simple goals, and ones I can relate to so well: read my bible, read something else devotional, pray. I’d love to do this every day too. But I often don’t. And I don’t work outside the house either, with all the extra juggling entailed in that.
So why don’t I do it? There are a bunch of reasons: tiredness, craziness of life in the Vicarage, but mainly it’s because other things seem more important than spending time with God. They’re not, of course, but my sinful heart takes control and I sleep a little more, tweet a little more, watch a little more Midsomer Murders. As I was reminded by my reading in Romans 7 this morning ‘What a wretched (wo)man I am!’
But the important thing is not to be discouraged when I fail. I’ve snoozed and missed the timeslot when I would have been reading my Bible. So I can grab a verse for the day on my phone. I’ve missed prayer time in the quite of the early morning. But I can still pray over the ironing board, or in the queue for the sandwich shop. I might not feel that I’ve prayed very well, or read enough of the Word, or wrestled with a theological concept. But if I’m keeping in regular touch with the Lord, I’m able to build my relationship with him. And even if I’m crazy busy or laid low by illness, there are still ways that relationship can grow, as his Spirit works in me. The Spirit reminds me of Scriptures or hymns and spiritual songs that I can cling to when I’m struggling with time or energy. The Spirit shows me the Lord’s providence in seemingly small ways that enable me to praise God when I feel like crying. The Spirit works in me so that I can will and work to the Father’s good pleasure.
Some of the resources I’ve found useful recently include using the audio setting with YouBible on my phone or tablet. This morning I read my allotted chapters from my epic 10 chapters a day reading plan but my head was a bit fuzzy and I didn’t process much. So then I listened to them again as I cleaned the kitchen and a bit more went in. Not everything, but a bit more.
My prayer life is a bit wobbly at the moment, but I’ve been using The Valley of Vision and have also recently downloaded the excellent PrayerMate app which is free at the moment. It has all the bells and whistles if you have an Apple device, but we are Android users in the Vicarage, so I have the newly launched version (which will be updated over the next few months) and am slowly uploading my prayer diary to its pages.
So I guess my answer is that I constantly fail to read my bible, to pray and balance all my family and other commitments. But I also constantly try and reboot them and get them back on track. The temptation is to feel that once we’ve missed a day in our readings, we’ve missed the boat. So we need to remind ourselves that the Father is waiting for our return. He loves us unconditionally, whether we’ve read our Bibles, prayed our prayers or simply slouched on the couch. Find a system which frees you from guilt if you miss a day; 10ofthose have some great undated devotional books. Start again. I read a blogpost in the last week about how we need to have Monday resolutions, not just New Year resolutions. And perhaps I even need to have daily resolutions. I mustn’t put off getting back on track because I’m waiting for a special season. I can reboot my resolutions today.
Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:7
The Vicar's Wife 
I preached the Monday resolution idea last Sunday and it seemed to go down. well.
Thanks for being so honest about this. I sometimes feel that ‘people’ think that we clergy wives spend much of the day in prayer and contemplation,hah! I’ve always found praying whilst doing the ironing a useful time. But perhaps you don’t iron……….
Dear V’sW..
What a lovely reply to my question. Thank you. xx
I can ‘see’ a lot of myself in your answer. It’s the ‘keep on, keeping on’ thing isn’t it? Not giving up when you hit the first ‘fail’, as fail we surely will as the random busyness of life takes over, or our own weak flesh lets us down and we snooze on…….zzzzz 🙂
I long ago indentified my ‘weak spots’ as it were, my biggest prevarications ~ the Net and housework!! I’ll just make this bed/load that machine/peel these spuds [pick one you like] and THEN I’ll do my bible study. I’ve cured my internet usage by not using my PC for online devotions, study or prayer too much [love, love, love Pray-as-you-go though]. I’ve gone back to good old books, they are finite and temptation free!!! I won’t allow myself to put the PC on until the evening [barring a banking crisis] and that way it’s not beckoning me with that cute little mouse and pretty desktop….inviting me to just ‘check’ facebook and my emails….go on, it’ll just take a minute, via Amazon and Twitter… 😆
It is a huge comfort to know that it’s not just me who is a frequent failure in these spiritual attempts. However, I do tend to chuck my teddy after the third day of no bible study and think, ‘What’s the point here, I’m NEVER going to do this?’ In truth though, you are right, the failure is not in missing a few days of bible study or prayer here and there. The real failing is to give up, and walk away completely. I console and remind myself often, that when Jesus spends time with me [us] he is not carrying a bible study guide, a prayer book or a check list……………he is the original ‘come as you are’ kind of guy. I need to be more like HIM.
Thank you once again.
Blessings
S xx
An honest post on such a difficult area of spiritual life. Is anyone really getting this right?