By Rachel McCord
I don’t know about you guys…but I am slammed! All those papers to write and articles to read and data to collect have just snuck up on me. (Please don’t tell my advisor that I am a procrastinator…I’d like her to find out on her own. It’s just better that way.) It seems like the pile of work is growing faster than I can chip away at it.
Before I go on, I need to admit something to you all. I am addicted to television. Usually the first that I do when I get home is turn on the tv. Maybe it’s the noise in the house that I like. Maybe I like catching up on what’s been going on in the world since the last time the tv was on (which was probably just a few hours before). If I’m really honest, what I like about the television being on is that I can sit and let my mind completely turn off.
But television isn’t all that productive. In fact, I waste a lot of time watching tv when I could be getting other things done (like the huge pile of laundry that is about to topple over in my house!) You would think that when times get busy and assignments start piling up, my prioritization skills would hone in on that tv time and start to cut it down. I’m sad to say, that isn’t what happens.
Ok…here is the transparent part. What suffers when things start piling up? My prayer time. I usually do pretty good getting in the Word on a consistent basis. And I try to make sure that I have service time in my schedule. But my prayer time always lands at the bottom of the bucket.
You might be asking, “Why are you telling us this?” It’s pretty simple, really…I need accountability. And the only way to get that accountability is to be willing to ‘fess up to others what I need to work on. But, I have another reason for sharing this with you. I want to let you know that you aren’t alone. Some of you may be struggling with having a consistent prayer time. Others may find it difficult to spend time in God’s Word on a daily basis. Still others may find that you are not committing to serving the church body or the local community. Or maybe some of you are struggling with doing some stuff that you know that God’s not really happy with you doing. You are not the only one with this problem.
So, what can you do about it? First, you have to be willing to admit that there are areas in our life that you need some help in. This can be a difficult process because it makes us admit that you aren’t perfect (shocker!). But then comes the hard part…you need to admit this to someone else. WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT??? This is the accountability part. You need to find someone that you trust that you can ask to help hold you accountable to your goals. For those of you who are active in a small group, I find my small group friends a great place to go to for accountability. Last Spring, I brought my prayer life issue up with my small group and asked them to pray for me and ask me how I was doing. And they did. While I know there is a lot of room for improvement, I know that the progress that I’ve made is partly due to their support.
So, what is it for you? Prayer time? Studying God’s Word? Service? Something Else?
I hope you’ll consider finding an accountability partner or group to help keep you on track.