How Much Time?

by Julia Graves

I think of Sunday as the day I refill my coffee pot of life. By the end of the week I am physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually drained. I am in dire need of a recharge. This is one of the reasons I attend church each week. To give thanks and to get my batteries recharged. Without this renewal I feel lost and without direction.

When I walk through the front doors of the church and into the sanctuary I feel connected once more, connected to something much bigger than myself. I feel the desire to be reverent, quite my heart, give thanks for my many blessings, and to ask for help and guidance.

This past week I found myself pondering a question: How much time to I truly devote to God? For all that God has given me, what do I give in return? An hour a week? How many of us even give that? When we are in church are we focused on God, or on other things? Can we leave the hustle and bustle of life behind for 60 minutes a week? Turn off the cell phone, ignore that text message, and forget about the sports score. Can we slow down and think about nothing but prayer, about God?

This is a poem by Ken Canedo that I think of when my life gets too busy.

Be Still

I searched for God
in my avalanche of
emails and voicemails,
IMs, CDs, TVs and MP3s,
but the Lord was not in the electronics.

I searched for God
in the drone of endless conversations
that permeate the hurried pace of
my daily routine,
but the Lord was not in the clatter.

I could not find the Lord,
though I searched in vain
through all that surrounds me!

And then, I heard a gentle voice.
"Be still."

There, within the silence
of my own inner peace.

I found God.