Life has a way of ordering its own priorities. Work takes up a good portion of my waking hours so sometimes the daily challenges / frustrations / aggravations can leach over into my personal life. But in the last few months family has ruled.

We certainly enjoyed all the family festivities during the Christmas season. And Sunday all the extended family came over for Katey’s & Marcus’ birthday lunch. These times of fun, food and fellowship serve to warm my heart and calm my soul when the work aggravation rears its ugly head.

I told Molly that I’d surely been bending God’s ear a lot lately with family issues. Katey, Andy & kidlettes needed to sell their house and move into their new digs. Katey had to make a decision about going to Chile and when the decision was made we all started praying in that direction. Molly & Kevin, while not facing any traumatic events since their move to Southaven, have dealt with strep and a boatload of respiratory ailments. Laurie is 10.5 months pregnant with child #5 (so she thinks) and caring for four small children. Dewayne who does his fair share of caretaing will have oral surgery tomorrow. Marcus had surgery several weeks ago.

So, you see, God has been hearing from me a lot lately about all those near & dear to me. And I am persuaded that our Heavenly Father wants to hear from me regarding these matters. But this morning as I finished reading my Bible, I heard that still small Voice reminding me that I need to spend more time in prayer praising Him for Who He Is. He wants me to consult Him about every aspect of my life; and He certainly wants me to acknowledge to Him my sins so He can lead me to repentance and cleansing.

Am I the only one who tends to rush through prayer time in order to get on with my day? Martin Luther rightly said, “I have so much to do (today) that I must spend the first three hours in prayer.” The frenetic pace of our lives would be ordered properly if we spent more time in prayer and less time trying to figure things out for ourselves.