Not getting up at 6.30am

Okay it’s quarter to midnight and I just got in from the Snow Patrol concert. It was sooooo good. Very loud, my ears are not thanking me – tinitus is awful! But it was totally worth it!! I will not, however, be getting up at 6.30am tomorrow. I’m sorry it just won’t physically happen. I’ll get up later and pray then – hope that’s okay.

Day 1 of Lent

Well, it wasn’t too bad!

Getting up at half six yesterday morning was difficult, almost as difficult as staying awake whilst praying. It probably wasn’t helped by my waking twice in the middle of the night but I now know for sure that I am not a morning person.

In the mornings I use a little book I picked up whilst at Pluscarden Abbey called A Time for Prayer, published by the Liturgy Office of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. It has a a Psalm for everyday, a little piece of Scripture for reflection, the Gospel Canticles for different times of the day and a concluding prayer for each day is given too. It’s quite Catholic, with the “Glory Be’s . . .” etc. but I like it and it helps me focus when really my brain isn’t up to the job.

Then I had my English exam. First paper was fine, helped I kind of knew what the essay question would be so was more prepared than I should have been with the miniscule amount of revision I did. Second paper was not so great – I totally misjudged the amount of time I had so I rushed to write my essay, not including as much detail as I should have or covering as many points, and ended up with twenty odd minutes to spare in which I could have written a far better essay. Oops. I’ll just have to hope it all balances out.

Got home later than expected but did take my half hour out to pray. I really don’t want to just come to God with a shopping list three times a day because it’s really about taking time out to spend with Him and listen to Him. I’m a very visual person so, despite my complete lack of artistic ability, I like drawing when I’m praying. So I did some of that yesterday. Maybe some day I’ll get round to posting some of the stuff I’ve done. I was also thinking yesterday, as I so often (probably too often) do, of the future. *dun dun dun*. Because it’s all a bit unknown to me. Other than uni I have no plans. However, I really felt that God was saying that’s how it has to be just now. I have to take it all one step at a time and trust in Him to reveal the next one when the time is right. 

The timetable I posted then said I was going to study. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I didn’t. Instead I had a wonderfully lazy afternoon watching Step Up, good easy watching.

I didn’t cook dinner either. Very lazy day.

Last night though I did finally open my Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology beast of a textbook and was learning all about the Canon of the Old Testament Scripture. Fascinating but very complicated and brain taxing stuff.

And then last night I prayed more Lectio Divina style – slow, contemplative and prayerful reading of the scriptures.

So, one day down, many to go. We’ll see how long this 6.30 am thing lasts.

Lent starts tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is the start of Lent and as I mentioned I’m organising my life a little and creating more time for prayer. It’s also the start of exams – english is at 9am tomorrow morning – so it looks a little different than a wednesday normally will. I would think that, most days,  mid day prayer will be at 1200. So anyway, here’s the “timetable” for tomorrow:

06:30 Get up

07:15 Bible Reading

07:30 Prayer

08:00 Breakfast

08:30 School

12:30 Home

13:00 Prayer

13:30 Lunch

14:00 School Study

17:00 Cook Dinner

18:15 Eat Dinner

19:00 Study, of the theological variety inc. reading and blogging

21:00 free (probably meaning TV)

22:00 Prayer and Reading

22:30 Lights out

My mum will be very happy to see school studying in there – I’ve really got to start making more of an effort with that!

I’m hoping to look at some stuff from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology on a wednesday evening – it’s been on my shelf for months and I’ve still only read the Prologue/ introduction bit.

I’m also going to have to be strict about lights out too or I’ll never get up at six thirty the next morning!

What are you doing for lent?? 

 

Lent and Prayer

So, after everything that  I’ve been learning and thinking about in these past few months, I think it is about time I put some of it into practice. Lent starts in next week on Wednesday 25th February and lasts till Easter Sunday, 12th April. Traditionally you give something up at Lent, as Christ gave up all food and comfort in his forty days in the desert, and in the past I have given up chocolate, biscuits and other slightly silly things quite successfully. This year though I plan to take up prayer, or more precisely a strict routine of prayer.

I would love to follow the routine of the Benedictene Monks but unfortunately my schedule doesn’t allow for it and the 4.45am starts would probably kill me. Instead I think I’m going to go for three, half hour slots in a day – morning, midday and evening. Daniel prayed three times day, “But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.” (Daniel 6:10). So did David, “Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice.” (Psalm 55:17). And Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, went to pray three times (Mark 14:32-42). So, I’ve convinced myself it’s biblical! I just have to make sure I can take a half hour out of my days at church, Tuesday and Thursday, (hint to those on staff that read this!) and all should be well!

I’m also going to try and build life in general into more of a routine, with a kind of timetable for each day. I’m not sure how well this is going to work but I reckon I can only give it a try and see if it helps at all. I was going to put it into a google calendar and link you to it but I haven’t quite got round to it – I’ll let you know if I eventually do.

Not wanting to stray too far from the tradition of fasting from something, I’m going to give up my laptop . . . on a Sunday. And maybe for the whole of Holy Week. Yes, I know that’s a bit of a cop-out but I use it all day everyday for church and school work so giving it up for 6 weeks wouldn’t be practical. The time that I spend on it is going to be limited by my routine though so hopefully I won’t be wasting as many hours on it as before.

I also have plans for Good Friday but will perhaps post those at a later date, after conferring with those in positions of power at church.