Conversing with the Almighty

Stephen: [speaking heavenward] Him? That can't be William Wallace. I'm prettier than this man. All right Father, I'll ask him.
Stephen: If I risk my neck for you, will I get a chance to kill Englishmen?
Hamish: Is your father a ghost, or do you converse with the Almighty?
Stephen: In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God.
Stephen: [heavenward] Yes, Father.
Stephen: [to William and the others] The Almighty says don't change the subject


These past few weeks I have been taking the time to spend about an hour every other day one on one with God. Usually, I just walk around a park at night and talk or sing to God. This might make me feel incredibly awkward since I do this outloud, but since I do it late at night, no one is around to hear me, and if someone does hear me, they still can't see my face. And honestly...the results have been surprising. I know that I have always heard you should spend time with God, but I always figured I could squeeze my time with God into a few minutes whenever I felt like it. Quality over quantity, you know. Of course that never really worked very well. Like any good friendship I have ever had, knowing one another intimately has come only from spending a lot of time together.

I have found myself discovering things about my relationship with God and my life that I had never really connected before. Making sure that I spend a good chunk of time with God a few times a week has had such a significant impact even on my daily life. Although I find myself not always feeling like I want to spend a lot of time with God, whenever I do I feel so much better afterwards. And during the days, I feel so much better about whatever happens. Like on a Monday when I have two tests, a quiz and a writing assignment due, I don't feel nearly as stressed out or worried about it. I guess time with the Almighty puts things into perspective.

I love those lines from Braveheart, where the crazy Irishman is talking to God. Not because I think he is the equal of God, but because he prays in front of everyone, like God were right in front of him. And it's not a formal prayer, but it's more of a conversation. I think too often we get the wrong idea of what time with God needs to look like. That we have to read our Bible and pray something that resembles the Lord's Prayer. Don't get me wrong, those are all good things. Sometimes I wonder if we ever can just walk and talk with God, like what Adam and Enoch did. I think that in a relationship with God, I can take the time to just talk to Him about how my day has been going or what my hopes and fears are. And I must say, the more time I spend talking to God, the more at peace my heart feels about everything going on around me.

"Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests"