Are you doing good things, but avoiding prayer?

   We can get into the trap of doing good while ignoring prayer.  However, are we not supposed to “love the Lord, [our] God, with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, and with all [our mind]”?  Jesus calls that the first and greatest commandment.  The second being to “love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]”.  Are we changing the order when we ignore prayer?

   If a man with good parents living next door never saw his parents for a whole year, he would be considered a bad son no matter how much good he did for others.  And so we are if we ignore Our Father.  When we ignore prayer, we are ignoring Our Father.  Prayer is the way we maintain our connection with Our Father, spending time with Him.

   We cannot let the devil fool us into thinking there are more important things than prayer, more important things than God.  Prayer can be difficult.  Indeed, if you do not have a constant prayer life, it may seem daunting, but it is not.  Start small and build it up.  Do what you can.  A father does not expect his child to talk and walk immediately.  Our Father is patiently waiting for us to become the sons and daughters He created us to be.  And how can we do that if we do not listen to Him in prayer?

   Jesus, You always did the Will of Your Father, taking time away from others to pray.  Help us to set aside time to pray and love “[our] God, with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, and with all [our mind].” Amen.