Finding time in a busy world to stay close to God

Staying close to God seems to be the #1 challenge for most of us. There is so much that simply demands our attention. We are always tired, worn out, exhausted just trying to get it all done. Many of us go to bed in the evening leaving more undone than we were able to accomplish. We feel like the Dunkin’ Donut man that meets himself coming through the front door of his home as he is leaving to go to work because it is always “time to make the donuts”. And so the merry-go-round that we happen to be on keeps moving. Through it all we desire, long for, wish for those opportunities to stay close to God, but we just cannot face another demand upon our time and energy. What to do?

Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Here is the question about which one is the greatest commandment. Jesus’ answer was dead on … to love God with every ounce of your being and to love your neighbor like you love yourself.

Reflection: Bringing together our desire to stay close to God and the greatest commandment is easier than we would have initially imagined. It is not about getting up an hour earlier in the day to have our quiet time (although that isn’t a bad idea), it isn’t about carrying a prayer card around so that when we have those moments to ourselves as in sitting at a red light, standing in an elevator or visiting the necessary room we can pull it out offering a pray (although that isn’t a bad idea either), it isn’t about picking up a Upper Room or some other devotional material as we sit eating our breakfast, lunch or dinner (although that too isn’t a bad idea), it isn’t about following any of the other devotional guidelines (although there are a ton of great suggestions) … It is about loving God and loving each other more than we love ourselves and finding ways to express that love in concrete and meaningful ways … significant ways … simple and direct ways … a touch, a phone call, a written note, a visit, a shared cup of coffee … nothing spectacular, but something that wasn’t expected, but once experienced will bring us closer to God and closer to others. This is the secret … the more we do for others the more time we will discover that we have for God. I don’t know how that works because there are only 24 hours in a day, but it just happens.

Prayer: Open my heart, O God, to those around me and help me to discover ways that I might lift their loneliness, burden, worry. Help me to add a smile to someone’s life. Help me to draw closer to you in the process. I desire to love you with all of my being so come and saturate my soul until there is no more room for anything else except a love for you! In Jesus name I do ask this. Amen.

Further reflection from I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body by Rubem Alves:
“We are that which we love. Neither larger nor smaller than the size of the objects of our desire. And that is why Christians become known by revealing to each other their dreams. To dream is to see love and desires transformed into symbols, words. It should not be frightening, then, that God, who is love, speaks to us through our dreams. And may we, from our part, speak to God through prayer, which is nothing more than the confession of our dream of love before the altar.”

The Struggle: This issue speaks to the heart of my problem. I am always tired. Even when I am exercising and eating correctly I am always tired. It might have something to do with the medical problems I experienced when I was a child, but I simply stay tired. Demands on our time and energy make us all tired. The daily routine and its never-ending demands overwhelm us. We dream of a moment here or a moment there where we might be able to pull away and rest in the arms of Jesus. We dream of a life of devotion. We long for those quiet moments when it is just God and us. We desire some peace. It is a struggle … a never ending balancing act. If we give God more time, then what do we delete from our schedule? And, where do we begin?

Christ is Alive
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
His cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
His love in death shall never die.

A Story from Management Digest, Vol. 1, No. 4, July 1989:
One hour of quiet concentration in any business can be worth two hours of normal working time, according to the management of a Denver business, quoted in a Success magazine item.

"Interruptions are the biggest enemy of creativity," says Gary Desmond, a principal of Hoover Berg Desmond (HBD) a $30 million a year architectural firm. To minimize the inevitable interruptions in the firm's large, open offices, Desmond came up with the idea which is more familiar with kids than corporations--the quiet hour. Every morning from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., no one at HBD including the principals, may communicate with anyone else inside or outside the office. "Basically, we're sitting at our desks for that hour," says Desmond, who makes allowances for emergency phone calls. "We try to focus totally on our clients' designs." Initially, HBD's 25 employees balked at the concept.

"Management had to explain that this was not a response to bad work habits. It was a vehicle to make us concentrate even more rigorously," says Desmond, although he now concedes that quiet hour is an excellent crack-the-whip technique too. But what do the clients think of it? At first, the firm chose to hide the policy from the outside world. "Businesses that found out used to ask if we served milk and cookies at quiet hour," says Desmond. "But we stuck to it and now those same firms respect how much we're trying to accomplish every morning." Quiet hour has worked out so well, in fact, that HBD wants to start a second one, perhaps in midafternoon. "Our employees all wish they had more quiet hours," says Desmond. "It gives us what most businesses need so badly, a little time to think."