During the first week of Lent, I listened to an audio book from Archbishop Desmond Tutu titled, ‘God Has A Dream.’ In that book, he makes this enlightening statement:
“Pray as you can – not as you can’t.”
He refers to the times when we are so exhausted that we can barely function, and we do not have the energy to give God our fullest attention.
The point is that we should not just give up or neglect prayer altogether because of our physical state of being. What we need to do is open up a dialogue with God letting him know that we don’t have it in us right now for “full-blown” prayer. Simply stating this to our heavenly Father is indeed a prayer in-and-of-itself. The purpose is to pray as you can – in the condition that you are. It doesn’t have to be a 15-minute litany. A simple prayer will do just as well. For it is better to pray short and simple than to not pray at all.
What we need to do is something that my spiritual director has told me for years. Instead of stressing over the fact that we cannot manage to pray in the manner that we would prefer, we just need to say something like this:
“Father, I am too exhausted right now to give you my complete attention or the praise that you rightly deserve. I will make the time to speak with you later. Until then, please continue to watch over me and keep me safe. Amen.”
Our intentions may always be good, but the body is often too weak. So, don’t be afraid to ask God to have the patience with us if we fall asleep in the middle of our prayer. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you fall asleep during prayer. As I always say, what better way to fall asleep than in the arms of our loving Father.
Don’t let exhaustion or extreme busyness pull us away from prayer. Make the effort to keep that line of communication with God always open and active. Remember, pray hardest when it’s hardest to pray and you will find true peace this Lenten season. Amen.
