Praying is like training for a marathon

At 7:15 am, I will be running 15km as part of the marathon training program that I’m in. In February, I will be running in the AT&T Austin Marathon and since I’ve had never ran more than three miles in my life, I started training.

As I type, the last thing I want to do is wake up and be running at 7:15 am. I’m going to do it, because I know that if I don’t, I am only hurting myself in light of my long term goal–running a marathon. Prayer, in many cases, is the same way. When I wake in the morning, many days I simply do not want to take the time to pray. During the day, I often avoid daily Mass because I just don’t want to. At night, I think about Evening or Night Prayer but more often than not it seems, I opt to go to sleep instead.

Aren’t we just hurting ourselves, in light of our long term goal of eternal salvation, when we fail to pray? Whether it be in times of good health and happiness or when we’re sure that everyone and everything is out to get us, shouldn’t we pray? Prayer is training for the marathon of heaven. How can we be prepared to be in the total presence of God if we can’t spend a few moments alone with Him?

And so, we should pray. Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, a simple Our Father, silence, free-flowing thoughts. Whatever the form, whatever the time, the important part is to actually do it.