How to Make Time to Pray: 3 Simple Ideas
How to Make Time to Pray
Do you struggle with figuring out how to make time to pray? You are not alone! Jesus calls us to pray, to communicate with Him, but when we have kids running in different directions, laundry, meals, bath time, schoolwork to help with, and we actually want to sleep, when can we pray?
We know that feeding our kids is a non-negotiable, meaning that it is not up for negation. We must feed our kids and ourselves, too. (No more skipping breakfast!) Washing laundry and making sure our toddlers get a nap are two more non-negotiables. One thing that will help us make time to pray is to make prayer non-negotiable, too.
That sounds good, but how do we do it? Here are three ways we can make prayer time no-negotiable.
If you are looking for a guide to help you add more prayer to your life consistently, be sure to check out the Prayer Companion.
1. Just pray.
You do not need to have a perfectly quiet home, the perfect Bible study, or be in the “right” frame of mind to pray. Just pray.
Prayer is communication with God, so communicate with Him. We can talk to Him like we talk to our husband and to our friends. After all, God is a dear friend. He sacrificed Himself so we may have eternal life with Him.
We tell our husbands and our friends about the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our lives. We can tell God about those, too. We can talk to Him when we wake up, when we are driving, when we are cooking, when we are checking in on our sleeping child, when we are full of happiness, and when we are at our wit’s end.
No matter what we want to say to God, He is here for us, waiting for us to come to Him and share our hearts with Him. He invites us to have a relationship with Him.
We do not need things to be our idea of perfect in order to pray. If God wanted us to be perfect He would have made us be perfect. No matter where we are, how we are feeling, or what we are doing, we can just pray to God. He wants to hear from us.
Let go of perfection and just pray.
2. Set an alarm.
Do you remember churches having bells? Some still do. A church would ring the bells before Mass to remind people that it was time to come to church for Mass. Some churches have bells that ring at noon or at 3:00 pm to remind people to pray the Angelus or the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Our homes are domestic churches. We can set an alarm to remind us to pray. We can pick any time that we think will work for us. After trying it out, we can try a different time if we realize another time might work better.
Setting an alarm to remind us to pray is a way to bring our thoughts to God and focus on Him during our day. We are taking a break from the tasks of our day to communicate with Him. By praying one Our Father or saying a prayer from our heart to God we acknowledge Him and spend time with Him. He loves us so much, He wants us to spend time with Him.
Set an alarm to pray.
3. Pray as a family.
When we pray together as a family, it is easier to make time for prayer each day. For example, praying together as a family before your kids' bedtime may be a great time for family prayer.
Family prayer time can be very simple. Each person can say what they want to pray for. Then you can pray an Our Father together. Keep it simple. After beginning a family prayer time before bed, our kids will remind us if we forget! (Ask me how I know...😏)
To read more about family prayer time, check out the post: Simple Family Evening Prayer Time.
Pray with your family.
Use these 3 simple ideas to make time to pray.
Chose one of these three ideas to help you make time to pray each day. Keep it simple and it will be easier to remember and follow through. 1. Let go of perfectionism and just pray. 2. Set an alarm to pray. 3. Pray as a family.
At times when we struggle to make time to pray, we can remember Jesus's request to the Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane. He went there to pray after the Last Supper and before He was arrested. The apostles who went with Him kept falling asleep. He asked them if they could at least stay away and pray with Him. We can think of Jesus' words and say yes to Him by spending some time praying each day.
If you want more step-by-step guidance to help you add more prayer to your life consistently, be sure to check out the Prayer Companion.
How to make time to pray bonus video.
Here is a great video by Fr. Mark-Mary about the importance of daily prayer-a lesson his order's founder learned from St. Mother Teresa.
How do you make time to pray each day? Drop a comment below and let us know!
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