Morning Prayer

Help me to know that the secret of contentment
lies in organizing the self
in the direction of simplicity.

Unless You have another task for me,
keep me vigilant in prayer.

Yesterday in my cross-cultural outreach class, we discussed ‘routines,’ whether they are good or bad, and how they play into the Christian life. I’m personally not a big fan of routines. That’s not to say I don’t have any or that I’m not just as set in my own ways as the next guy, but I do believe that routine is juxtaposed to the Christian Life.

If I buy flowers for my wife every day (which I wish I could do), at what point does it stop being special and just become routine? Even so, what if my prayers become routine?

I don’t think ‘daily,’ or any other set repetition of time is equivalent to routine, but what is? What makes something routine? Maybe doing something for the sake of doing it. Maybe that makes something routine and maybe that’s what I want to avoid.

So, not for the sake of doing it, but for the sake of growing a deeper trust in my creator and putting myself last, here is my prayer:

Unless you have another task for me,
keep me vigilant in prayer.