Blogs - Chief of Pray Blog

Giving 110% percent. Going all-out. Exceeding Expectations. There are so many clichés designed to get us to do more and be more. Countless organizations have an “excellence clause” in their mission statements. Millions of individuals live by a personal motto of more. I wonder; in our quest for better and better, is it possible that more is the new less?

This past Saturday, my husband and I gave a dinner party. I prefer entertaining at home to getting together at a restaurant. There are more opportunities for guests to mingle and have good conversation. My brother Marty is an Orthodox Jew. He’s very strict about time-bound prayer, kashrut (dietary laws), and Sabbath observance. He came to the party late. We were finished eating, and he was finished praying.

Marty was sitting around talking to me and my cousin Bonnie. I asked him why Sabbath starts Friday with sundown but doesn’t end until an hour past sundown on Saturday? He explained that sundown begins when the sun goes down, but it isn’t over until the first star appears in the sky. That satisfied me, but Bonnie is an intellectual. She wanted to know: what if you’re in Antarctica?

The essence of the Sabbath is to have a rest from work. We’re taught to observe the Sabbath and make it holy. Surely there are good people, living far from the equator, who deserve a break even if the sun doesn’t rise and set there. According to Marty, Rabbis decided to make an adjustment to the ancient Sabbath rules. First, a Jew shouldn’t really live in the South Pole, Antarctica, or even Alaska, but if he must, he would add an extra day to the Sabbath… just to be sure.

In religion, like in life, we’re encouraged to do more. Add more ritual to your spiritual life. Join another bible study group. Give more to those in need. On the surface, who could argue with such sensible advice? But, I see how easy it is to cross the line between doing more and losing out. We all know the busy volunteer who misses worship because they’re in the kitchen preparing the community meal. When you’re racing from one activity to another, there’s little time left for prayer or unscheduled reflection.

At Prayables, we encourage women to add more pray to their day. Yet, if you’re worried about fitting prayer into your schedule— something’s wrong. Prayer is the anti-worry. Having a conversation with God should be relaxing and invigorating, both at the same time. Your prayer time should be so rewarding, that you look forward to praying because it’s stress-releasing, not stress-inducing. Many of us need the structure of prescribed time for prayer. If it’s not on our to-do list, even praying doesn’t get done. Just as Sabbath is a day of rest from your work, consider prayer as a moment of rest from your worries.

Sometimes the answer
is in the waiting...
sometimes the answer is, be still.
Pause. Breathe.
For Whoever crafted nature,
tiny toddler toes,
and worlds without end
is surely able.

And if the seventh day
was the day of rest,
Then no matter
how much world-shifting,
life-changing drama may be
in the offing,
there's always
the seventh day.

Please remind me of this,
as I run in place,
and shake my fist at the sky.
Respite, relief, and rest will come.
Be present for me even
when I am not myself,
and help me to calm my mind.

-Ruth Williams