Cal Newport has an interesting post (here) about trimming back your news intake. Especially during the coronavirus, he argues, it is important to focus. And, so goes his article, it is hard to focus when you are bombarded with news. The antidote- less is more.
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
I’ve spoken with a lot of readers of the blog and listeners of the podcast (wait, you haven’t yet subscribed?) who have shared a higher level of anxiety than usual. Viruses, social unrest and an impending election will do that.
This all affects our prayer lives. You sit down to pray and your brain is flooded with distracting thoughts or worries. Or, you open your iPad and get sucked into a news article about another man shot by the police. Sadly, even our churches can breed anxiety as a homily goes off the rails into a political “grenade drop” on the congregation. (To my preaching friends, please don’t do that. There are better ways to address difficult things.)
One Strategy to Consider (but be careful)
My strategy of late- quitting time. When I’ve begun my devotions in the morning and then I can’t seem to focus, I’ve been tempted to just call it in and declare, “Sorry God, I just don’t have it today! Too much worry to let you in… maybe tomorrow will be better!” On one hand, this is an honest response to internal unease. And, some days, you just don’t have your A Game when it comes to prayer. It’s healthy to be gentle to yourself.
“We must pray incessantly for the gift of perseverance.”
But, and here’s the key part, there is something lacking to the approach. First, prayer is not so much about us. I know, I know- our stress levels go down and our confidence goes up when we build a life of prayer. We need to pray. It’s part of being human and becoming holy. But, God doesn’t need our prayers and more of our prayer should be about God than about us. More praise, less petition. More listening, less speaking.
Secondly, I invite all of us to an earnest inventory of what we let into our noggins prior to praying. Newport is on to something here- garbage in, garbage out. I realized that the days when I’m more likely to call it in are the days when I allowed myself to read a negative news story before I prayed. I need to be disciplined and go for the Word prior to typing in the URL to CNN. In other words- don’t spoil the entree by eating too many appetizers.
Quitting time isn’t the answer. A more disciplined front door to our minds is. This will in turn lead to a more fruitful prayer life.