Crosswalk the Devotional - Apr. 13, 2009

April 13, 2009

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him 
by Sarah Jennings, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
Matthew 26: 40-41 NIV

There is a little chapel I frequent once a week to spend time with the Lord. It consists of a small, modest room attached to a monastery, tucked away on sprawling land in a neighboring county. Every Thursday, my boyfriend and I travel to spend one hour of silence before the Lord.

One full hour. With no breaks, no comforts of home. Just a cheap chair and a beat up old kneeler.

When we first made the one hour commitment, I expected a struggle.10 minutes here or 15 there in the tiny chapel seemed much more reasonable. It’s times like this that I empathize with the disciples in the passage above. Indeed, the spirit is more willing than the flesh.

Over time, I am beginning to realize how little an hour per week really is – and how beneficial this hour is to my relationship with God. It often takes a solid half hour before my soul is even still enough to cease my rambling at the Lord and allow Him to speak. And both of us recently noted that on the weeks we don’t make it to Adoration, there is a distinct hole in our lives.

St. John of the Cross once said, “Those who are very active and think they can embrace the world with their preaching and external activities, should remember that they would be more useful to the Church and more pleasing to God, not to mention the good example they would set, were they to spend half as much time with him in prayer.”

It’s hard to imagine such a stationary activity could be so valuable – even more so than preaching. Yet, ultimately, all the doing in the world, all those other interesting things that hold our attention, could be rendered meaningless if our relationship with the Lord is weak.

I often imagine the Lord waiting for us each week for that appointment in that chapel. There may be hours where it is completely empty, and yet He waits. As you begin your week, know that time spent with the Lord is time He desires with you. It is never wasted time and may bring Him more pleasure than anything else you accomplish this week

Intersecting Faith & Life: Are your quiet times still and peaceful? Or are they distracted and rushed? What can you do to improve your quiet times? Do you have a special place set aside where you spend time with the Lord?

Further Reading