I Guess It Happens to Most People

Today in church the pastor alluded to praying and letting your mind just go everywhere else.

No one responded. Preachers are always asking rhetorical questions--no one really knows if they're really asking for a vocal response.

"Am I really the only one?" he asked.

A few people nodded or said something like "I do," "No, I do that".

A big 'ol grin spread across my face. I smiled because I was embarassed, and I guess a little relieved that I wasn't the only one who did that.

I've become about a professional at being distracted. There are times when I wonder if I have ADD.

To imagine that the pastor let his mind wander during prayer made me feel...human.


I once read that prayer shouldn't be done just before bed because you're tired and trying to wind down from the day. Not that it's bad to pray before bed, just that's it's better to pray when you're fully alert.

I can totally relate. I pray every morning. Well, most mornings. Every now and then I get easily distracted and actually forget, or let it slip by me, or get too busy.

How do you forget to do something like that? How do you get so busy that you forget to thank God for being alive?

Often I've been lying in bed with my eyes closed. The TV is on, of course and I try to block it out and say a little prayer before I go to sleep. In the back of my mind I'm thinking of what I need to do tommorow, of what to cook for dinner, about that project I need to get done.

It happens sometimes in the mornings too. How could I be so blatantly thoughtless? It should be a serious time to address your Maker. To address God ought to be cleared of needless thoughts and tasks and focusing only on Him. How can I be so selfish as to let the back of my mind wander?

Shouldn't I love Him enough to give Him my full attention?

If a reporter addresses the president of the United States, isn't he giving the commander in cheif his full attention?

But that is just a man to another man. This is on a higher level--no pun intended. Why do we let ourselves become so distracted so easily?

These things do not matter. What's for supper, the things we have to get done--it's all irrelevant to the bigger picture. Instead of letting ourselves become distracted during prayer, we should be praying for the strength to clear our minds and to be able to pray with total devotion with nothing in our thoughts but Him.

Now there's something to pray about.