Spending Time with God
But this morning, as I was doing my prayers, and thanking God for the time I spend with Him, I also - for the first time - thanked Him for the time He spent with me.
When we spend time with good friends, we might comment afterwards how good it was "to spend time together", or "how great it was to spend the afternoon with you!". It's easy for us to say that because we are physically seeing and interacting with that friend. Our minds, our spirits, see that as time with them or time together, or both.
So as I sat and prayed this morning, I chose to pray as if God was seated next to me. I prayed as if we were having a chat, with me doing all the talking. But I felt that God was listening, just as a close friend does when you need to "unload". So, at the end of my prayers, it was easy for me to say "thank you for the time I have spent with you this morning." And then I added, "But also, thank you for spending the time with me."
When we pray, when we read lessons from the Bible or books on faith or spirituality, we need to think that God is physically present there. That our time spent with Him is WITH Him. We need to remember, and more importantly, accept that it's not a one-way street where we just push our thankfulness, concerns, and petitions to Him, as if He was some emotionless city clerk collecting our water bill. No. We need to realize that in prayer, in thought, in worship, that when we are engaged in those practices that He is also spending time with us! It is a two-way street where we engage with the Father in a spiritual communion, and that He IS there, with us, listening. And most importantly, that He does wish to spend that time - with us.
Soli Deo Gloria
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