I’m terrible with consistency. And if you notice what the date for my last post was, and what date for this post is, you’ll agree with me. However, I’ve decided that consistency is something I should work on. For example, I’m now heavier than I’ve ever been in my life, including the day my twin sons were born. So I’ve started keeping track of what I eat, made sure to have things on hand to create healthy meals at home, and as of this morning, getting on the elliptical for at least 30 minutes a day. Tomorrow I intend to add Pilates to my workout routine three times a week, but we’ll see. And the key to all of this? Consistency. But I’ve realized something by forcing my lazy self who would only spontaneously give into bouts of good habits. Consistency isn’t just for exercise.
I’ve abandoned my prayer life for the most part, starting almost two years ago. I felt it wasn’t coming to anything, if I’m honest with myself, because I was praying for a very specific request and had been for months without seeing any results. So I gave up and found something else to occupy my time before bed. And looking back now, it was only a month at most before I had that prayer answered after I stopped praying. I’m not condoning not praying as a way to get your answer, not by any means, but I find it interesting that I had given up without really thinking about what God might be working on. The answer I needed/wanted wasn’t just dependent on me, there were others involved and I realize now that He was nudging them into the right place just as much as He was me. And perhaps I was dragging my feet a bit about obeying Him, and doing a very good impersonation of a stubborn child who wanted it done their way. But that’s another story entirely.
My point is this. Consistency in our prayer lives is vital to our spiritual lives. When I’m exercising every day and eating right and drinking enough water, I feel great. I have more energy, I feel more able to focus, I’m in a better mood overall. Which leads me to want to exercise more. And if I decide I’m too tired one day, or I don’t have the time to actually cook supper, or the boys have been fussy all day and I deserve a night off so I get Shannon to pick something up on his way home, it leads me to give into the urge to not do as good the next day.
The same could be said for a more active prayer life. I feel closer to God, which gives me more motivation to remain true to my faith, which makes me less inclined to consciously sin, which makes me feel closer to God, which makes me want to pray more. And if that little, high pitched, whiney, nasal voice whispers in my ear ‘oh, it’ll be okay. God knows how rough today has been, he’ll understand if you zone out in front of the television for a little while instead of praying’, then the next time it’ll be a little easier to come up with an excuse not to. So I’m going to be working on this consistency thing that has so far evaded me. I miss my prayer life worse than I miss being able to fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans, and if I’m willing to work this hard to get back to them, then shouldn’t I be willing to work that much more to get back to having a good prayer life?
