Often when I write one of these devotions, I have second thoughts. Last week’s blog was about the spiritual value of work. I don’t want to take back anything I wrote, but I realize it was only half the message that should be told. I mentioned the motto of Benedictine monks, Pray and Work, as a testimony to the necessity of work. However, there is a real danger, especially for work-obsessed Americans, to think that the only thing of value is work. I remember an interview I had with a church council where one member made it plain that time spent by the pastor praying or engaging in other devotional activity was NOT work. You want to pray, do it on your own time, not ours. He used to check up on me to make sure I was really working and not goofing off praying.

I should tell you that the monks call the activity of praying the services (four services a day at the abbey I visit) the Work of God. There isn’t such a sharp distinction in their minds between prayer and work. However, they are quick to caution us outsiders that there had better be time in our lives devoted just to prayer. Father Paul, who I mentioned last week, used to tell students who came to him for spiritual direction that if they weren’t spending an hour a day in prayer, he couldn’t help them in their spiritual life.

How you pray can vary greatly among people. That you pray is more important than the how.

Read Ephesians 6:18 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne