I am not an avid golfer, but I have played a handful of times (I'm a day of a wedding/fundraiser frequency). These few times have shown me enough to know what golfers mean when they say that one good shot will get you back out there to play again. This is especially true when the shot comes near the end of a rough day. After a day of "spending more time in the sand than David Hasselhoff," a good shot can make everything right (at least on the golf course). This feeling of accomplishment, even if rather insignificant, if viewed in comparison to the 100+ (I'm really bad!) horrible shots the rest of the day, gives one the strength and desire to continue getting out there and try to improve.
A few weeks back, I had the same experience with prayer. After sitting in the chapel for almost an hour and right before I was getting ready to leave, I had a great insight. I sensed God's presence in a more real way than I had recently, and I just knew at that moment how much He loved me. It was a great moment, but it was just that, a moment. It passed quickly (too quickly for my human liking) and then it was gone, though He was not. God gives us these little moments of grace, of a deeper understanding and greater realization of His love for us and His nearness to us. The deeper our relationship is with Him, the less we need these moments and the less they will happen. That being said, they always seem to come at the right moments, when we are so frustrated with prayer that we are tempted to give up. It is in those moments that God reassures us that spending that hour each day sitting quietly in His presence, listening to His voice and opening ourselves us to the promptings of His Holy Spirit is "worth it." I forget who said this, but someone was once asked how long he prayed each day. He responded by saying "only about 10 minutes, but it takes me 50 minutes to get there."
Prayer is essential if we want to know God's will for us. We must spend time in silence listening to Him. Even if it seems like He is not speaking, we must remain committed to time each day spent in silence waiting for Him to speak. In this way, we will be ready to hear Him when He does speak to us. In a book I am reading right now the author says that we need to commit ourselves to having moments of contact with God, when we really see Him and commit ourselves to Him. Early on in our prayer, he continues, we must look Jesus in the face, placing ourselves in His presence and realizing that God dwells within us. This will be what keeps us coming back to prayer day in and day out. Let us remain faithful to prayer, not simply living for those moments when we "feel" God's presence, but also appreciating the times when He is silent. It is in these moments that we are reminded that we can do nothing without God. It is also in these moments that we are reminded by St. Paul that we can also do all things through Him who strengthens us.
A few weeks back, I had the same experience with prayer. After sitting in the chapel for almost an hour and right before I was getting ready to leave, I had a great insight. I sensed God's presence in a more real way than I had recently, and I just knew at that moment how much He loved me. It was a great moment, but it was just that, a moment. It passed quickly (too quickly for my human liking) and then it was gone, though He was not. God gives us these little moments of grace, of a deeper understanding and greater realization of His love for us and His nearness to us. The deeper our relationship is with Him, the less we need these moments and the less they will happen. That being said, they always seem to come at the right moments, when we are so frustrated with prayer that we are tempted to give up. It is in those moments that God reassures us that spending that hour each day sitting quietly in His presence, listening to His voice and opening ourselves us to the promptings of His Holy Spirit is "worth it." I forget who said this, but someone was once asked how long he prayed each day. He responded by saying "only about 10 minutes, but it takes me 50 minutes to get there."
Prayer is essential if we want to know God's will for us. We must spend time in silence listening to Him. Even if it seems like He is not speaking, we must remain committed to time each day spent in silence waiting for Him to speak. In this way, we will be ready to hear Him when He does speak to us. In a book I am reading right now the author says that we need to commit ourselves to having moments of contact with God, when we really see Him and commit ourselves to Him. Early on in our prayer, he continues, we must look Jesus in the face, placing ourselves in His presence and realizing that God dwells within us. This will be what keeps us coming back to prayer day in and day out. Let us remain faithful to prayer, not simply living for those moments when we "feel" God's presence, but also appreciating the times when He is silent. It is in these moments that we are reminded that we can do nothing without God. It is also in these moments that we are reminded by St. Paul that we can also do all things through Him who strengthens us.
