As soon as I learned how to tell time, I became an ardent clock-watcher. I still always seem to know what time it is—unless, of course, there is a power outage, and no battery clocks are close by. Consequently, I am rarely late for an appointment and have little patience with people who tend to be tardy.
I have some ideas about using time in our quest for holiness. Priests and religious pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day. Consisting of psalms, hymns, sacred scripture readings and other prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours is regularly prayed at various times of the day and night. More information about this type of prayer can be easily found on the internet.
I got thinking about a “Liturgy of the Ours” in which we could pray, at set times of the day, for things that are ours, i.e., our families, our friends, our healings, and our blessings.
It is up to each of us to take the time to communicate with our loving God, to build on the relationship we are so privileged to have.
Yes, we are busy, but, in many cases, we can make time for activities that we deem important. I am not suggesting that we spend endless hours in prayer, but I know from personal experience how easy it is to get caught up in worldly activities, get tired, and skip over prayer time on a given day.
We are enjoying the season of autumn, but we know that at least in some states of the Union, fallen leaves will be carpeting our yards, and we will have to deal with them. So how about rake time for prayer? Why not pray some little prayers as we rake the yard? We can thank our Creator for the beautiful variety of foliage, for the change of seasons, and for wonderful life cycles in nature.
First thing in the morning, when we just open our eyes to another day, we can have wake time prayer. Even if we regularly pray in the morning, those first waking moments can be prime time for our simply thanking God for another day.
Before we know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us. Some of us pull out the cookbooks for those special bread, cookie, and cake recipes. After we get the ingredients of a special recipe into the oven, why not have a few miniature bake time prayers? How many times have we thanked the Lord for flour, chocolate, and the numerous special mouth-watering flavors and concoctions?
Did you ever sit in your car with your foot on the brake pedal as you wait your turn at the bank drive-up window? Your transaction may be all set to transact, so why not pray a brake time prayer? Do a rough total of just the blessings of your day so far and talk to Abba about the challenges yet to come.
One more idea: if you live in a state where it snows in winter, how about a little flake time prayer? We observe the perfect configuration of those lacy, delicate snowflakes that glide through the winter air. We can ask our Lord to teach us about patience, awe, and wonder as we watch the clean white silent flakes blanket the ground.
Whether it is our personal Liturgy of the Ours, whether we take time or make time, if we use rake time, first wake time, or bake time, brake time, or snowflake time to use our minds and hearts to come closer to God, above all we must be grateful for the gift of time! As I say at Thanksgiving dinnertime: “Seconds, anyone?”
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Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash
Scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Sharon Krause is a RENEW volunteer whose writing has appeared in several resources for small-group faith sharing. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Manchester, Connecticut. Over the years, she has served in many parish ministries.