Holiness: Prayer

You shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. -- Deut. 6:7

Time has always fascinated me. The way it speeds up and slows down. How we choose to spend each of the twenty-four hours we are allotted each day. The way no matter how hard you try to hold onto a moment, it always slips away. And I wonder, how does God see time?

I like to imagine time spread out like the universe full of stars--moments in time that shine with the light of eternity. Life is full of these sparks, the little things that make life worth living. But too often we miss them. An opportunity to do a good deed, a moment of beauty, they simply pass us by as we go about our busy lives. That's where prayer comes in, I think.

The verse quoted above is traditionally understood to be a commandment to recite the Shema in the morning and the evening. I take it as a calling to set apart time with prayer. At the beginning of the day and at the end, in our work and in our rest, our eyes should be turned to our Father in heaven.

When you lie down and when you rise up

I've been trying to set apart some time every morning and every evening for prayer and reflection. I'm not perfect at this by any means and often miss this time (especially in the evening). This week I want to add a small element to my daily prayers.

In the morning: "What can I do to bring out the holiness of today?"
God has hidden opportunities everywhere for us to fulfill a mitzvah, to encourage a friend, to create something beautiful. These are the things that set apart time, that raise it up above the mundane. Ask God to show you those opportunities and to give you the courage to act on them.

In the evening: "What has God revealed to me today of His holiness?"
How has God showed you His love, His beauty, His glory today? Reflect on these things and thank our God for His infinite goodness.

When you sit in your house and when you walk by the way

Prayer sets our focus for the day, but we cannot relegate God to our "prayer time." His presence is with us always in our work and in our rest. I'll touch on this more later as I want to talk about Sabbath in a separate post (this one is already getting quite long).  But for now, think about how you use your time, working and resting. Where are the sparks of holiness in your work and in your rest? Where have you sown seeds and where have they born fruit?

Sparks of Time

There's one more thing I want to touch on, something God showed me in my reading this morning. I think it's relevant because it touches on my tendency to obsess about using time "efficiently." In Mark 14, there is a woman who pours a flask of costly ointment over the head of Yeshua. The disciples complain that she could have sold it and given the money to the poor--she could have been more efficient in her work. As if God's work depended on us. Really, we can give nothing back to God (for it is all His already). Rather, He gives us opportunities to play a part in His story. Yeshua said to the disciples, "She has done what she could"--she found a spark in time and acted upon it. So, don't worry about being inefficient or not good enough. Just do what you can and thank God for the opportunities He has given you to perform a good deed.


There is so much more that could be said about prayer, so much that I've learned over the last several years. And yet, still I feel that I am only scratching the surface. Still, it is important to never forget what prayer is at it's core--a connection between man and God.

What are your thoughts on prayer?

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