Time to be Honest about Daily Prayer

Think of the last time that your daily prayer time was truly different. I can’t define for you exactly what that looks like but I imagine that it offered glimpses of:

• clarity

• listening

• lingering in God’s presence

• savoring God’s goodness

“Prayer is a burst from my heart, it is a simple glance thrown toward Heaven...”

— St. Therese of Lisieux

That moment of prayer may have included your emotions or maybe not. It may have been long or short. It may have been in private or in public. The key is that it was different, even special compared to the churn of our weekly schedules.

How long ago was that time of prayer? And, just as importantly, are you setting yourself up for the next time that God might bless you with a similar experience?

This is not to say that all times of prayer need to be memorable or “special”. After all, each glance of the heart towards heaven is of value. And, fair to say, much of our prayer time is quite ordinary. Simply praying is a big deal. St. Therese of Lisieux said this about prayer, "For me, prayer is a burst from my heart, it is a simple glance thrown toward Heaven, a cry of thanksgiving and love in times of trial as well as in times of joy."

I suspect that if you’re reading this blog, you want something deeper in terms of your prayer life. You already have a daily time of prayer but you long for a richer experience of God’s unbounding love.

“Nothing great is ever achieved without enduring much.”

— St. Catherine of Siena

I know that I do.

If I’m honest though, I am tempted to give God the scraps of my heart. In morning devotional time, I can get sloppy. I’ll start off with the daily Mass readings from the USCCB website and linger with them for a while. But, I let myself get distracted. 15 minutes later and I’ve checked the weather, my local news here in Bethlehem, PA and the latest sports scores from the night before. I’m checking off the “morning prayer” box on my list but I know the truth- it’s sloppy.

We do this in all sorts of other areas of our lives. Think of when you threw two dollars into the collection basket at Church when you knew that your salary could justify much, much more. Or, think of the times when your church asked for help with a particular project and you defaulted to “I’m so busy, someone else will do it”. We are seldom as generous as we ought to be with God.

This isn’t to beat myself up or to be overly scrupulous. It’s just honest. God knows that I want my morning prayer time to be better, to be more whole, more human and more focused. And, He knows that I pray for that grace and resolve to do better the next time. The acknowledgement of the struggle is very, very healthy.

One strategy that helps to overcome digital distraction is the use of physical books- devotionals, spiritual classics and a physical Bible. Another is to avoid hiding your feelings about prayer from God. Tell Him about your struggle. Name it and offer it up to Him. Make a sincere act of faith and see what God does.

Are you honest about your prayer time? Are you noticing patterns that could be improved? Is something not working for you that needs to be put away?

An Act of Faith

Loving God, you know when I open my heart fully to you and when I put up a wall between us. Let me, just for today, bring my whole self to you, even if it’s imperfect. Build me up Jesus into a great saint, that I might consistently bring you my best, especially when I don’t feel like it.

Living in the Moment

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that the present moment is more fragile than we had previously thought. What we had considered as stable became tentative and untrustworthy- health, the economy, and public figures.

A phrase that I’ve written about before and am continuing to work on is “the sacrament of the present moment”. A concept popularly made known by Fr. Jean Pierre de Caussade, the idea is simple enough- God is here, right now, wherever you are and is pouring out His love.

He has not left us abandoned.

You often hear people say, “Gosh, 2020 was a dumpster fire!” While I understand the sentiment, it’s as if God was absent from the suffering that we often experience. That’s simply not true. The Christian tradition teaches that God is intimately involved with our circumstances and cares deeply about what troubles and pleases us.

Here’s a trick for applying Caussade’s phrase to your experience of a new year: say to yourself, whenever you think of it, the sacrament of this moment. Ask God to show you how He is present in the particular moment in which you find yourself.

By adding this to the phrase, everything changes.

The other day, my wife Cary was telling me about a situation in her family that bothered her. A distant relative had said something hurtful. Rather than rushing on to the next item on my to-do list, I felt the Lord whispering to me, “what is the sacrament of this moment?” In an instant, I was able to shift my perspective and be more attentive in my listening.

You can do this too.

Whether your 2020 was difficult or substantively easy, God was there. In 2021, why not ask the Lord to show you the grace of each particular moment? The sacrament of this present moment.

A Productivity Wish List for 2021

2020 was a year unlike any other. If you’re a productivity geek, it didn’t disappoint. Whether we talk about the release of Hey from Basecamp, the delight of using Craft, the ease of Boards within Todoist or the introduction of Nozbe Teams, companies worked hard this past year.

Instead of my past Productivity Awards (see 2016, see 2017) at the end of a calendar year, I’d like to suggest seven things that I would love to see happen in 2021. Each request comes from an app that I have used or currently use. 

Seven things I’d like to see in 2021:

1. OmniFocus for iOS UI improvements. It’s time for better font treatments on OmniFocus for iOS. Am I the only one who can’t stand the Arial font treatment on OF 3 for iOS?  While we’re at it, how about removing those annoying dots under each project that indicate how many todos you have? Finally let’s make the persistent gear icon “hideable” in the top corner of the Home Screen.

2. The use of multi-panels by Todoist on iPad OS. I absolutely adore Todoist and feel that their update schedule is second to none. This one is a bit nit-picky but what the heck: how about a better use of the real estate on iPad OS? There’s just too much screen to not have a better multi-paned viewing of the app. You can see from the image below, the entry takes up way too much real estate for my taste.

3. More control over the left panel within Nozbe Teams. We want to edit, archive and delete tags in Nozbe Teams. While it’s nice to be able to expand/hide the tags, let’s take it to the next level and put some muscle into the left sidebar. 

4. For TickTick to stop copying the features of Todoist. This tweet from the CEO of Todoist is pretty convincing. I’ve had concerns about the lack of TickTick’s transparency for the past year. Nice app with lots of functionality but please, stop the copying. 

5. Font size increase for Things3 on iOS. We know, Things3 is an opinionated app with beautiful UI but phone sizes are larger than ever. Can we please increase the size of a) the fonts and b) the buttons that you need to push to complete and item? 

6. A simpler UI for Notion. Notion is very powerful but still feels like an engineer and a chemist concocted the thing. I can’t think of an average, everyday person who could actually figure the app out. Please, make it simpler so that non-geeks can use Notion and benefit from its endless list of features.

7. A smoother, more reliable UI for Basecamp on iOS. Again, I love Basecamp but find that the iOS app lags behind the desktop and web version. As an example, why does the “attachment” bar take so long to show up when you need it most within a todo item? 

And while we’re at it, how about completely versions of the following:

• Nozbe Personal: Since the company’s been putting a lot of energy towards Nozbe Teams, Personal has suffered. The UI is, ahem...tired. While hundreds of thousands of folks use Personal each month, it’s hard to imagine moving forward without a major redesign. 

• Basecamp 4: it’s not that there’s anything wrong with BC3 but a guy can dream. All Basecamp needs to do is provide some new polish and users will be pleased. For bonus points, a deeper discount for nonprofit users would be a happy surprise.

• OmniFocus 4: this is highly unlikely since OF3 is just a few years old. Nonetheless, it sometimes feels as if the OmniGroup moves so slow since it has so many products. If OF is their flagship, why not put a faster touch on its updates and releases? OF 4 could benefit from a unified experience between iOS and the Mac.

• Things 4: we are going on year four since Things 3 came out but it feels exactly the same as it did in 2017. I’d love to see saved filtering and a much larger font.

I write all of this with a smile. We have it made when it comes to great apps from truly special companies. Let’s hope for a smoother year in 2021 and the thoughtful productivity that goes along with it. 

A Redeemer We can Relate To

Why didn’t Jesus come as a powerful ruler? Surely, his fame would have spread faster if he had a better title, more money and a place of authority. These were the signs of the Messiah, or so thought the Jews of his day.

Yet, he came as a baby. Only a few shepherds were alerted to this. A few years later, some star-watchers came to do him homage. He would live in a small town, never traveling far from home, making a living with a hammer and a saw. He was the neighbor that you could talk to, the friend you could rely on, the man of faith you could admire. He was in almost every way, common but without seeking fame.

Here’s the thing- famous people are really fun but not relatable. They always feel “far off”, occasionally entering into the world of the common man but then retreating to their home on the hill. No, God knew that we would need a redeemer we could relate to, someone just like you and me. I have met a handful of famous people in my life and I was starstruck each time. What I wasn’t was changed. Life went right back to the way it was before meeting the celebrity.

Why was this relatability so important? So that we could live like him once he’s changed our lives. This is the difference between a celebrity and the Savior. A celebrity’s encounter with a commoner is fleeting and leaves nothing but a faint memory. The Savior, one fully relatable with every human on the earth, leaves an indelible mark which changes one’s life. Then, we can change the lives of others.

return to sender: the gift of regret

Too often, we approach Christmas and then the end of a year with regret. These can be short term (in the past 12 months) or more far reaching:

• If only I had done this in the past year

• If only I had said that

• If only I had made a better decision when I was 20

• If only I had taken that job

The list is endless. And, more importantly, it can be dangerous. Sure, it’s human to wonder what things would have been like had we made different choices. Back to the Future anyone?

Yet, and here’s the catch, it can be prideful. To not dwell richly in the moments we have now… that’s a missed opportunity. Fr. Jean Pierre de Caussade, a spiritual writer from the 18th century has instructed us to understand the “sacrament of the present moment”.

In other words- be here now. Return to sender whatever gifts of regret you receive this Christmas. The present moment is much more rewarding.

No need for a white Christmas

As we put the finishing touches on Christmas preparation, things feel particularly off this year. Pandemic on our minds, our gatherings will be smaller and our travel more simple. The date on the calendar is the same but somehow, everything feels different.

If you have a touch of anxiety, join the club. If you’re wondering if your celebration of Christmas is “good enough” or has enough traditions baked in, I get it. This year, perhaps more than others, we should toss those out the window. I don’t mean the traditions of merry-making. Keep those.

It’s the persistent thoughts of, “it’s not the same this year” or “it wasn’t supposed to be this way”. Point taken but God invites us to be present and to appreciate His presence. To do this, we can lean into a simpler Christmas, one more intentional and from the heart. The presents will be there but in 2020, it’s deeper than that. Much deeper.

Thankfully, God doesn’t require a white Christmas. Or a blue Christmas. Or a perfect Christmas. The celebration of the birth of His son isn’t relying on a vaccine to a virus. No minimum number of relatives is mandatory.

Only gratitude.

Thanksgiving for the birth of Christ many years ago and appreciation for how Jesus can change our lives still today. That’s all we need this year.