Weeds are a problem.
I recently hired some men to remove weeds from underneath my deck. The weeds had begun growing several feet, from the ground up and through the bottom of the deck. They had also begun to surround the deck, creeping up and around the edges and sides.
Not pretty.
The solution was clear: pull them out and kill them. No trimming was necessary. No clipping would do. Removal was the answer.
In Episode 6 of my podcast, Pausing for Prayer, I talked with Fr. Daniel O’Mullane, a pastor in New Jersey. We talked about spiritual dryness during prayer. I was asking partly for my audience but also for myself. I wanted to know more about the dynamics of dryness.
The saints knew much about this reality. St. Alphonsus Liguori said this, “This, then, is your answer whenever you feel tempted to stop praying because it seems to be a waste of time: ‘I am here to please God.’ ” Spiritual dryness can tempt us to avoid prayer, rush through it or resent it. Our frailty makes it hard to lovingly “push through” these times and yet, that’s what we are to do.
Back to the weeds.
“I am here to please God.”
I was noticing lately that my dryness was back. After a few weeks, I realized something important- some weeds had grown up in my morning prayer time and I was preferring them over the Lord Himself. Let me explain.
I will typically begin prayer with the Angelus followed by the reading of the day’s Gospel. From there, I will read a half a dozen Christian blogs and websites. What I realized was that I was breezing through the Bible reading and really desiring the blog and website reading.
When those were unsatisfying, I would mistakenly feel as if my morning prayer time was poor. This continued day after day. Finally I just blurted out to the Lord, “Can I just enjoy a quiet time already?”
The weeds needed to be removed. The Word was taking a back seat to the latest Christian news headline. I needed to choose the best wine, not just the cheap stuff in a box.
What weeds exist in your prayer life? What are you noticing that pulls you away from real prayer and time with the Word? How can you ask the Lord to refocus your time on Him and then find joy once again in prayer?
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P.S. as you can see, my deck now looks much better!
