As part of my
daily life, I make it a habit to regularly pray throughout the day. As
Christians, everything we do ought to be offered up in to the Lord: be it before
meals, studies or gaming sessions. In fact, our whole lives are meant to be
lifted up in prayer – however, for this post, ‘prayer’ will be taken as the
direct action of addressing, talking or invocating something from God.
Although prayer
is essential for spiritual growth, often I struggle to do so in certain aspects
of my life, particularly before study and games/entertainment activities. Looking
at the surface, one may find it quite astonishing how difficult it is for me
just to set aside a moment to ask God to bless and watch over me during these
two major activities which make up a large portion of my life. While I
would not label it so far as to call it loathing, it certainly feels like a
drag whenever I am reminded (by the Spirit) to pray.
Do I know the
reason for my reluctance at this? Actually, I do – and quite clearly if I may
add. But knowing and overcoming it are two different things, no? Put it simply,
I enjoy my comfort. And since humans are creatures of comfort, we avoid
activities/putting in energy that makes is uncomfortable (as mentioned
previously in my post on 23 December 2014. Man, I got to limit referencing this post).
When I pray, I
know that God would give me the strength to carry out my prayer – and that is
what I am reluctant for. Ironic eh? It is somewhat akin to the feeling one gets
when signing a contract. You are bound to it, and you know you will have to
accomplish it, like it or not. The
responsibility of keeping to what I vowed to do may not exactly be pleasant
though, and can be actually quite a pain.
To put it
expressly, prayer of this sort opens my eyes to the cross. The responsibility
to give my all in that endeavour and dedicate it to God. The effort I have to
put in to overcome that obstacle. And of course, the prospect of going on the
journey carrying such a burden is not what I would call pleasant.
So maybe people
reading this may have some idea why prayer before studies/work is quite trying
for me, but games? In fact, to pray is harder for me before play. The reason is
similar. Gaming/recreation is a time of the day in which I look most forward
to. While one cannot (probably) question the enthusiasm I have in front of the
keyboard, I have the tendency to be enticed by other less noble/questionable
activities from too much net and games. But perhaps more prominently, is the
responsibility of keeping gaming in moderation and not succumb to the “one more game” syndrome.
While a common
and easy thing for Christians to say is to “pray
for the strength to overcome the challenges”, I would like to share a
method which I find quite effective for me personally, as a reminder for
myself, and mayhap a suggestion to anyone who somehow happens to pass by this
post.
As Christians
may be aware, this is currently the season of Lent
(although it is the final week, termed Holy Week). For Catholics, this season
marks a time of fasting, almsgiving and charity.
Thus, it is a perfect opportunity for us to build ourselves up spiritually by
living in simplicity and attuning ourselves to be more receptive towards God.
A few weeks into
the Lenten season, instead of having some semi-opaque aim of what to do, I
decided to draw up a list of items to fast. Perhaps due to my engineering
background, I found having the set of specific and concrete objectives made it
more achievable and motivating. From there I gradually worked through the list,
beginning from several items and increasing the count at least once per week.
Some may find
various issues with this method, asserting that this reduces the spiritual
dimension of fasting into a worldly/rational one and such. But for me, the
physical and spiritual are interrelated, since both are brought into existence
by God. The idea is that since I have been through this before, it will be
easier to keep up this practice of prayer and moderation. As they say, the best
way to learn/grow is to experience the real thing yourself. And besides, Lent
is called a fasting season for a reason. Just as
God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2),
one does not fast 365 days per year, 24 hours per day.
At the end of
the day though, all this depends on one’s sincerity. There is little point if I
pray devoid of any thoughts to improve myself. If there is one thing I want to
bring back from this endeavour, it is a greater earnestness of depending and surrendering
this life to Him who knows and plans what is best for me.
RFG always.
