Hebrews tells us we have not resisted to the point of drawing blood. That reminded me, I just donated blood last week. I don’t like getting poked with a needle. And that little lancet they used to poke your finger stings much worse than the needle in your arm. I see donating blood as something very good and much needed.

As good as it is to donate blood I have not always given consistently. I am once again over the two-gallon mark. And I am determined to continue to give blood until I no longer can. Even though I am determined to give blood I must be disciplined to do so.

This means watching for local blood drives. Scheduling a day and time. And planning to take some time off as needed. All of this must be planned. This type of discipline works well with other events in my life.

I am determined to spend time with God. I am not a very spontaneous person so I must set up a schedule. I want my life focused on God, which means I must be focused on prayer. So, I set up a schedule for my prayer time. I try to be realistic. I schedule longer periods of time when I know I can. I schedule short reminders to help me remember to keep focused on God.

Some people might object to the discipline of scheduling prayer time. I remind them that if we lived in a convent or seminary, we would already have scheduled prayer times. Morning prayer and evening prayer certainly are scheduled at a minimum. Other orders may have additional times. They recognize that prayer life must be scheduled to teach us the discipline to pray.

As we discipline our minds and hearts to a world of prayer, then we naturally learn to keep God first in our hearts, our minds, and our souls. Think about your day, where would you schedule in a prayer.

May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen