An Ongoing Conversation

In Eugene Peterson's book "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" he says that he realized at one point that the most important things he could do as a pastor were Scripture and prayer.  Scripture, being God's Word, is a way for God to communicate to us, to literally speak to us.  And for those of us who read it often we know it can come to life in front of us and jump right into our souls and speak to something we've been working on or tell us something we need to say.  Prayer on the other hand is our way of communicating to God, and sometimes we know God also communicates to us through prayer as well.  He realized that he must also combine the two as much as possible - prayerfully reading Scripture, and praying scripturally.  And there's lots of other comparisons and illustrations you can draw from his ideas if you want.

The thing I pulled from those ideas is that there is supposed to be an ongoing conversation between you and God when things are as they should be.  Brother Lawrence called this Practicing the Presence of God.  Every fiber and moment in life is created by God and full of His purpose.  We, as His men and women, need to be in tune with God at all times.  How better to know what His will is for our lives, and how better to know what He wants us to do in a given situation, or what to say to someone?  And what a great constant reminder of who's really in charge and where we should go first when things come up.  

Through my first week of doing 60 minutes for 60 days, I have already noticed a difference.  I bring more things to God, and I notice Him more throughout the day, and I feel that I am beginning to view more of life through a God filter because He's on my mind more.  But I am also noticing just how big of a problem I have as well.  There are times when I am on a photo shoot for work and I all of the sudden notice that I haven't heard my watch chime in a couple hours.  I at first wonder if it is still working, but alas the problem is that I was so engrossed in work I overlooked/ignored God.  Also, there are times when I hear the chime but I don't really stop what I am doing, but instead give God a quick hello, how are you kind of response instead of truly pausing to acknowledge Him.  

The good news is, I have 52 more days to improve.  I am already planning to probably never not have a chiming watch again, as it is such a good way to stay in touch with God.  And I am finding that I don't know more about His will for my life yet, but that I am more willing to be a part of it each day.  I can't wait for Christmas!