new

in spite of Richard Foster's assertion that we are all beginners when it comes to prayer, i am regularly frustrated by my prayer life... or perhaps, more accurately, my lack of prayer life.

i begin each day with the best of intentions, but somehow, in the course of living, prayer becomes overshadowed by all the things that need to be done and thought about and taken care of. then the guilt sets in, and who wants to pray with a guilty conscience, so it then gets pushed back behind all the diversions... you can tell that this isn't going to end well.

so, i started something new yesterday.

i picked up The Divine Hours, a rather sizable yet brilliant book by Phyllis Tickle last week from BookDepository.com. it contains prayers for praying the Daily Offices, morning, midday, vespers and compline, from June all the way to September. when i received it last week, i was intimidated by its size, but when you consider there are four sets of prayers for each day for four months, it makes more sense.

there is a quote on the back of the book by Bert Ghezzi saying, "The Divine Hours is simply the best for people who want to work prayer into the fabric of their daily life."

this is what i want... to work prayer into the fabric of my everyday life.