Is it really a priority?

Prayer is a responsibility and a privilege. But is it really a priority? How do you make or keep it a priority? I am so thankful to be a child of God. Belonging to God's family means that I have the privilege of coming boldly into God's presence. I can open my heart and share it with Him without shame or fear. Because there are so many different kinds of families, some great and some dysfunctional, I want to give you a snapshot of my dad to explain why I love to pray. My dad is holding my sister. My mom is holding my brother. And my older sister is standing beside my mother. I'm the little girl playing in front of my dad.[/caption]   There are so many things that I could say about my dad. He was quiet. Kind. Good looking- I look like my daddy. LOL! He was hard working. I'm like my dad in that respect too. He loved to garden. I'm not sure if he loved gardening because he enjoyed watching it grow or the influence of living through The Great Depression drove him to gardening. He was generous with the seed and the fertilizer so he always had bumper crops! I think the law of sowing and reaping produced those abundant crops. He always shared his harvest with friends and strangers too. He couldn't hear very well. As the years crept up on him, his hearing began to fail. He hated his hearing aids, so he didn't wear them very often. When I came to visit he would either be in the garden or on the front porch waiting for me to get there. I knew he was excited to see us. (Now, I understand how he felt. I love it when my kids or grandkids come home.) But after a warm hug, he would disappear to the back of the house and return with his hearing aids in his ears. He wanted to be able to hear me. I can't begin to tell you how much that meant to me. It made me feel so valuable. He hated those hearing aids. As much as he hated those hearing aids, he wanted to hear what I had to say more than he hated the buzz and the whistle that he had to put up with when he wore them. HE WANTED TO HEAR ME! I was that important to him. Nothing communicates value more than really listening to someone. I realize that each of us come from different backgrounds. Some of us had awesome dads and some people had no dad in their lives at all. If you are one of those people without a dad, I am so sorry. That's why this picture is so important. I share it to remind you that your heavenly Father wants to hear you! That's important. I want that to really soak in...He listens to you.  He wants to hear about the things that concern you. His ear is tuned to your voice. He made you to have fellowship with Him. Our religious minds have complicated our conversations with God. But the simple truth is--prayer is simple. It is conversation. talking. listening. loving and being loved. Prayer is expressing your love and receiving His love. Prayer is so simple, yet it is profound! It's connecting with Heaven. It's connecting with the Creator of the Universe in a personal way. It's almost unbelievable, but if I don't believe, I strip that connection of its rightful value and power. So talk, cause He listens. But don't forget to listen, because He talks too!   Life is busy! Because life is busy, we must make prayer a priority. Saying prayer is a priority and making it a priority is two very different things. We schedule priorities. Scheduling a priority is the only way to keep it a priority. Do you have prayer on your schedule? If you don't, then it's not a priority.  I know the reality of how life works. If I don't make prayer a priority then I don't pray regularly. So prayer is part of my regular routine. Prayer is a believer's life line. Prayer is more than asking for stuff. It is...   positioning myself in God's presence, loving on Him, listening to Him, and receiving His love is an important part of my walk with Jesus. When I do that... everything else has a way of falling in place. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 ESV Be a blessing to someone today. Please share my post with your friends. Thank you.