Miss Nan

One night when my friend Ray, who has gone on to glory, was trying to get his son Thad to bed, he couldn't get him to come out of the closet. Ray thought Thad was just trying to keep from going to bed.

He finally got Thad into bed, but he did something unusual. He got under the covers and all the way to the foot of the bed.

An exasperated Ray said, "Son, what are you doing?" Then came the reply: "Dad, the Bible says to enter into the closet to pray," He was quoting Jesus' words in Matthew 6:6, "BUT THOU, WHEN THOU PRAYEST, ENTER INTO THY CLOSET...." I guess you can imagine how Ray felt.

This episode started me thinking. Do you have a prayer life? Some of us do; some of us pray on the run; some of us pray when we have time. It is good to pray at these times, but I do not believe these times of praying constitute a prayer life.

So what does? Having a prayer closet, a place where you have your quiet time! As you know, mine is my blue couch.

I will repeat. If you want a real prayer life, find your closet. If you want a more effective prayer life, find your prayer closet and enter there at the same time every day. The best time? The Psalmist said in Psalm 88:13: "...IN THE MORNING SHALL MY PRAYER COME TO THEE." This works for me; I pray that it does for you too.