Wandering Thoughts

So, let's try this again, now that the internet at my house is restored (a week is too long to go with internet).

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”  (Colossians 4:2 NIV)

 

Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray; we cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thing that conflicts is wandering thoughts… We must have a settled place for prayer, and when we get there, the plague of flies begins -- this must be done, that must be done. 

 

-- Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”

The two quotes above were in my email this morning. 

It's true, isn't it, that sometimes, when we commit the time to pray, we find that we are distracted by wandering thoughts and worries. It is important to center ourselves and to try to focus on giving undivided attention to God.

However...

Sometimes, and we have to discern when, those wandering thoughts are God at work. Sometimes, those tasks that shoot through our mind are the work of God, moving us to what we need to do. 

Faith isn't easy - it just isn't. It requires attention and discernment. It's not black or white at all, and to say that all wandering thoughts in prayer are distractions is just one example.