I have been delighted by how much it already means to me to stop and pray for our congregation and the people of the district of Larnaca every day at 6.00pm.
I am used to attending services on time so I set an alarm on my watch for 5.58pm, and I also set an alarm for 6.10pm to finish my time of silent prayer. I remember being shocked years ago by a writer on prayer saying that he set an alarm for the end of a prayer time, but now it is proving a useful and habit-forming part of my pattern.
There is a chair I always sit in for my devotional reading, for Morning Prayer, and now for silent prayer at 6.00. Sitting in the same place, like praying at a fixed time, helps me to focus on what I am there to do and I have a list of all your names in my lap. I sit down, I sit still, and I can attend in peace and quiet to what I am doing, the one thing necessary.
So the repetition and rhythm of this 10 minutes has become for me an enlivening time – being still with God, in my chair, with your name in my lap and on my heart.
Christopher