Many people look at a pastor and I can almost guarantee certain things are going through their head. Once they get over the idea/shock of “Aaaah, a pastor!” (picture Kevin in Home Alone when he puts on After Shave for the first time) certain thoughts will probably go through their head. Not all and not all at the same time, but there are certain preconceived ideas people have. Here are just a few of them:

1. We are soft and don’t know what it means to work hard. I beg to differ on that. I may not work physically like a laborer or wrestle with kids all day, but mental tiredness is nothing to shake a stick at. Plus, have you ever tried to wrestle with cranky and cantankerous old people? 🙂  (Not that I have any at the moment). {Note: the whole COVID thing did a number on many pastors. They still haven’t recovered mentally.}
   
2. We only work one day a week. (Sort of like teachers only work 9 months and have 3 months off for vacation). I had someone tease me about that just yesterday. I laughed. He knows better. Actually, I asked him if he was jealous. 🙂
   
3. We never have bad thoughts, get angry, have our feelings hurt, or want to tell someone off. (No comment).
4. We have it all together spiritually; spend our days reading our Bible, praying, reading books, and studying.

It is that latter one that is so far off track I hate to say how far. I’m almost ashamed to admit it is so not true. And the biggest culprit of all is my prayer life. Each morning I get up, shower, dress (hooray for that), then have about an hour of what is called by some a “Quiet Time.” A few years ago I started calling it my “Encounter Time” because that is what I want it to be. Honestly? Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not.

Especially when it comes to my prayer life. There are mornings my prayer time is spot on. Others not so. I can tell when I have been negligent or less that consistent. My public prayer-from the pulpit, in a gathering, at the bedside in a hospital to name a few-seem more mechanical than heartfelt. Words come out of my mouth, but they bypass my heart.

Prayer was important to Jesus. He would often get away and go off by Himself to pray. He would pray for wisdom, like when He chose His 12 followers. He would pray when He was seeking solace. He prayed when He was tired and needed to just get away. He prayed when rejected and needed a recharge. He prayed for courage (Garden of Gethsemane). He prayed to surrender.

The question that haunts me is this: if Jesus though it that important, why should I think of it any less? OUCH!

So…how is your prayer life these days?