It was one of those days filled to overflowing with meetings, appointments, and a sundry of other things making the twenty-four hour day about twenty hours too short. Coming home in a cloud of dust from one meeting, sitting down to a hurried dinner on my way to another meeting, I began to gobble down my food.

Sitting next to me at the table was Aaron, my five year old son. He and the rest of the family would eat later, as I had to eat early so I could make my next meeting, now only a few minutes away. Sensing the rush I was in, never looking up from his coloring, Aaron said, “Daddy, you don’t have time to pray?”

Now if someone else had said that to me, a grown up type, I would have taken it as a criticism. I probably would have become defensive and it would have caused within me some feelings of guilt. “How can you eat without praying first, without thanking God? Are you that ungrateful?”

But, alas, I didn’t hear that from Aaron. He was simply making an observation and wanting to know if it was correct. Are there times in life when you don’t have time to pray? In our home seldom do we eat without praying, but this time I did not because I didn’t have time, and is that a legitimate reason for not praying?

I put my fork down and looked across the room at Mickey rushing around to get me on my way. We smiled. We were pleased that Aaron had this awareness and sensitivity to prayer and in his innocent, childlike way, brought to my attention on that busy evening, a spiritual truth.

CONSIDER how when we don’t have time to pray, then we are not using our time wisely. If we are too busy to pray we are far busier that God ever intended for us to be.

I bowed my head and prayed. I then sat back in my chair and took my time. I was late for my meeting. That was okay, because I had a more important meeting to attend, the one with my family and my God.

Rev. Wendell Mettey
1/24/2014

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