Time...

I believe the single most consistent excuse I hear, bar none, is time. Students run out of time, teachers don't have time, and all of us wish we had more time. The reality is that time should not drive us in the way that it does. Dr. Peter Kreeft has a great article on time that all should read.

Dr. Kreeft believes that the single largest obstacle to our relationship with God is having no time, and I believe he is right. We live in a time of great invention. Many tasks from the past that robbed us of valuable time are now taken care of by machines. Yet, we still have less time than we used to have. Why?

Dr. Kreeft believe we are out of alignment regarding time. He writes,

"We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time."

I know this, but still, I resist and allow time to determine prayer. Dr. Kreeft believes we should think about time differently. He goes on to write,

"Time is like the setting of a play. The setting is really part of the play, contained by the play, determined by the play. But we often think the opposite: we think the play is contained by the setting. We think that the theme, the meaning, the spirit of the play is in its material setting instead of the other way around. That's like thinking the soul is in the body. In fact, the body is in the soul. So says St. Thomas Aquinas. And since time measures the movements of material bodies, while prayer measures the movements of the soul, time is really in prayer rather than prayer in time. Prayer determines and changes and miraculously multiplies time. But prayer multiplies time only if and when we sacrifice our time, offer it up. There's the rub. We fear sacrifice. It's a kind of death."

Do we fear sacrifice? I believe we do. We do not like the word sacrifice in the west. We think, in our minds, that there is something wrong with it. That it is a dirty part of faith reserved for those poor souls struggling with their faith. Maybe, I am the only one who thought that way. Dr. Kreeft makes the case for sacrifice when he writes,

"All the real religions of the world are based on sacrifice, on willing death. Only the fake religion of pop psychology (which has infiltrated even the modern church) ignores this fact. Even pagans and polytheists know it. The most popular god in India is Shiva, the Destroyer, and the most popular goddess is Kali, his female equivalent. Even Hindus know the importance of spiritual surgery, death, sacrifice. After Calvary, how can Christians know this any less? Our Lord repeatedly taught us that unless we took up our cross and followed him, we could not be his disciples. This probably means some terrible and difficult things; but one of the simple and easy things it means is to sacrifice our time to God. For time is life—"life-time."

I believe he is accurate in his analysis. If you read his article you will notice that Dr. Kreeft challenges his readers to get rid of the TV. Our family is a testimony to this radical idea... we have not had cable for over a year, and it has changed our lives. Dr. Kreeft uses TV as just one of the many examples of the things we do instead of spending time in prayer. Dr. Kreeft leaves us with a challenge...

"The first rule for prayer, the most important first step, is not about how to do it, but to just do it; not to perfect and complete it but to begin it." Think of the things preventing you from spending more time in prayer... and rid yourselves of them. I am making my list right now. Blessings!