Like me, did you start the new year with a desire to pray more?

Last year I reckon I had over a dozen or so times of prayer, when after five minutes of starting I’ve said: “God, why don’t I do this more often?!’

What caused me to ask was always the sense of relief, the renewed perspective I felt when things just seemed a bit stressful and overwhelming.

My desire for 2014 is that I actually pray in the way that I always plan to and write down in my plan: an hour a day, a morning a week, a day a month and a week a year.

I’m great on the day a month… It’s in the diary for the whole year. I’m fairly disciplined about the morning a week (it always starts with a good coffee and a read of the paper…) but the hour a day is so hit and miss, there’s no way I can honestly say this happens… Most days it just doesn’t. And I’m worse off without it. The hour a day sets me up in the most extraordinary way. It’s a time to get ‘in tune’ and look beyond myself and pray for people on my heart.

So, a bit of a revelation- this year I’ve worked out that the hour a day not only needs the ‘hour’ but the space where that hour will be spent. I know it sounds so simple- but having a space (the same seat, corner of the room, setae… Or wherever) really helps with routine. Having a place to go to launches me into prayer.