Lesson 2: Finding a Time and a Place

Good intentions about prayer evaporate without structure. Almost everyone who prays regularly has a time and a place. Almost everyone who means to pray but does not has neither. This lesson is about building the container.

Choose a time

The best time to pray is the one you will actually keep. For most people that is early morning, before the day makes its demands, or late evening, when the house is quiet. Morning has the advantage of shaping the day ahead. Evening has the advantage of reviewing the day with God. Either works; both is better, even if one is very short.

Write the time down. Treat it as an appointment. If you would not cancel a meeting with your boss without good reason, do not cancel this one.

Start with five minutes. You can always extend, and a short time you keep is worth more than a long time you abandon.

Choose a place

Your body learns habits faster than your mind does. If you pray in the same spot every day, that spot will start to call you to prayer. It does not need to be special. A chair by a window, the end of the bed, a step on the back porch. Keep what you need there: a Bible, a candle, a small cross or an icon, a card with a prayer on it. Remove what you do not need, especially the phone.

Some people make a small prayer corner. Others simply turn a kitchen chair toward the wall. The point is consistency, not decoration.

Build the habit

Attach prayer to something you already do. Pray before coffee, or before brushing your teeth at night. The existing habit becomes a trigger. After a few weeks, the sequence will feel natural and skipping it will feel strange.

Prepare the night before. Put the Bible open to tomorrow's passage. Set out the candle. The fewer decisions you have to make in the morning, the more likely you are to begin.

Plan for interruptions

Life will interrupt. You will oversleep, travel, get sick, have a child wake up early. Decide now what you will do on those days. A good rule: never skip entirely. Do a one-minute version. Make the Sign of the Cross, say the Our Father, and say one sentence of thanks. The chain of daily prayer is worth protecting even in its thinnest form.

When you miss a day anyway

You will. When it happens, do not spend the next day feeling guilty. Guilt is a poor motivator and often leads to quitting. Simply return. God is not keeping score; He is glad you came back.

Practice exercise

Right now, decide three things and write them down: the time you will pray each day this week, the place you will pray, and the one-minute version you will use when you cannot do the full time. Then prepare the place tonight so that tomorrow morning everything is ready.