(Douglas Adams)
Douglas Adams was in my opinion one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The Hitchhikers series, Dirk Gently and his work on Dr Who. I don't think anyone can argue that this man was a genius of both writing and comedy. The thing I love about Adams is his ability to sum up feelings that everyone has into short punchy phrases that have such brilliant comic value. He managed to take the mundane that everyone experiences and turn it into a universal inside joke.
The quote above is one that I have loved for many years and have used time and time again, mostly in exchanges with my friends Katy who shares my love for Adams and my sense of humour. But I think that this quote can sometimes sum up our time with God. We often get so busy with life that we do end up with time being pretty much an illusion and we are only aware of it by the swoosh it makes as it flies by (another nod to Mr Adams).
When this happens more than not our time with God suffers too, because we have little or no time we end up having little or no time for God. I know that this has happened to me many times, even over the last few days (apologies for the quality of content over the last few days) I have struggled to fit everything in.
But life is nothing if it is not a battle, and a constant relentless battle it is. There are no time outs, no chances to catch your breath, there is just the relentless march of the clock as it counts the seconds away. But just because time is flying past us all the time and we find that we could really do with a week that was 26/8 does not mean we can justify cutting down our time with God. Because it is in this time that God comforts us, nurtures us, it is in this time that we can get a recharge and become refuelled to go back out into the world. Quick prayers and short times with God are good and beneficial, but in the long run they are the spiritual equivalent of turning the batteries around in the TV remote. Yes it will allow you to keep going for a short while but you will run flat again, and very soon.
I know that taking time out with God is hard, I struggle daily to find it, and I have to admit that many days I fail. But rather than each failure being a cause to feel down, or disappointed we should use them as signs that we should redouble our effort and try even harder. And for those who are getting some time with God, do you think you are doing enough? Are you sat there reading this thinking that this does not apply to you? If that is a case then you need to consider a phrase my minister says to me all the time.
"When you think you are doing enough, when you think you have things sorted. It is at that point you need to redouble your efforts because it is at that point that it is easiest to fall."
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