This week I am practicing weaving the new prayer rhythm into the work of ministry.

Sunday, I was back in church. I preached. I was tired after, but managed to do pretty well at keeping the prayer and study rhythm intact. I worked it into and around the schedule.

Monday, was a piece of cake.

Monday, is my study and writing and prayer day anyway, so it wasn’t much of an adaptation. The only thing I added was a standing coffee time with my friend Jody.

I knew Tuesday was going to need some adaptation.

Tuesday, is a meeting day. I was up by 2:30 A.M. and prayed before I started to get ready for the day. By 3:15 A.M. I was getting ready and was off to the office about 4:30 A.M. My office day on Tuesday starts with a prayer meeting at 6 A.M. so that was all good. Then, I normally do a bit of paperwork and go home around 7:30 A.M. I do morning chores before my staff meeting. This week I added a prayer time after chickens and before staff. That prayer time was mostly uninterrupted. I added prayer after staff meeting, before my afternoon work and necessary nap. I headed back to the church around 4 P.M. I added a gauntlet prayer and study before my evening class. Then, I was in class from 6-8 P.M. I ended the night with our family prayer meeting, went home, closed in the chickens and walked the dog one final time, before getting into bed and happily collapsing into sleep, feeling I had succeeded at what is usually the busiest day of the week.

Then Wednesday happened. Wednesday, is my quiet day. Except for the stray meeting, I try to keep Wednesday free especially if the rest of the week is busy. I thought that meant Wednesday would be easy to keep my rhythm. I was mistaken.

I overslept. By the time I opened my eyes, the dog was whining because he was well past his morning walk. The chickens were screeching about not having been fed, and the whole house was awake, getting ready for their day and wanting to say good morning like it was the opening of a Disney musical. Needless to say, I did not get much prayer in…and this week I had one of those stray meetings at 9:30A.M. It went until 11:30. Then I had paperwork to do before I could close out and get on with my day. By noon I had prayed a grand total of 30 minutes. I was so tired that when I got home I pretty much collapsed into bed until 3:30 P.M. Then, I was into afternoon chores, and since I was by that point totally knocked off my rhythm, I ended up doom scrolling until supper. By the end of the day, the 30 minutes was all I could claim of prayer. What was supposed to be the easiest day of the week had become the most epic fail of the new rhythm.

I have done some thinking about it, and I realize that I need to plan my Wednesday as carefully as I plan my Tuesday, even though one is a day of intense work and the other is a day of rest. Planning how I will pray in the midst rest is, perhaps, even more important than planning how I will pray in the midst of work. If I do not plan my resting prayer I am realizing it will become dissipation, even as not planning my prayer in the midst of work will become exhaustion.

I am realizing INTENTIONALITY is going to be a key to success, and LEAVING THINGS TO CHANCE is going to be a doorway to failure

I have just finished my morning gauntlet of prayer and study. I am moving in to the rest of my day and further into the rhythm that will be 2027 and 2028.

These last days of sabbatical are the beginning of a new practice that will probably take the rest of 2026 to work into the fibers of my being.

Yesterday I took my sister to the Irish Festival at the Winchendon Community Park for her birthday.

We listened to some amazing music and did some window shopping at the booths. We shared bangers and mash and Guiness beef stew, apple cider and apple fritters. Then we finished the day with cake and ice cream at home with the kids. It was a great day.

As the day came to its finish line, I walked the dogs and closed in the chickens making sure Hen Solo was with her sisters before locking the coop gate. It was an early night to bed and I realized as I laid my head to the pillow that I had not followed the rhythm as planned. I had not planned for the expectations of others. I had not considered alternative pathways to move into the evening gauntlet of prayer and study. I had not taken an aside from the festivities of the day to pray for even ten minutes.

I have prayed today that Jesus would help me move in to the rhythm He has shown me as my next step. I have asked Him to show me how to fold the rhythm into the life He has given me, how to adapt this life and its demands to the life He is bringing me into. The way lies before me. Learning and wisdom are the prayers of my heart. I ask without doubting that I will have the learning and wisdom and that what He wants will be established.