The Prayer Tithe

It's been a good Memorial Day weekend so far. One of the best things: time to engage in idle reading. I've been able to go through books, some old and some new, and casually mull over passages. The mulling was broken up with demands and questions from my children, but since only four of them were around, the mulling was more serene that usual.

Anyway, spurred by last week's post, I pulled John Senior's classic The Restoration of Christian Culture off the bookshelf and went through sections I underlined years ago. I came across this one:

The third degree [of prayer] is for those in the married state (or single life) who offer a tithe of their time for prayer--about two and one-half hours per day--with eight hours for work, eight for sleep and the remaining five and a half for recreation with the family.

In all honesty, I'd never forgotten this passage. It's always been tugging guiltily at me. Do I spend two and a half hours in prayer every day? Sure, if you the secularists will let me "self define" prayer to be any mental activity not geared toward a practical purpose. That way, I get to include daydreaming (heck, night dreaming), blogging time, and watching TV. But barring such an expansive reading, I fall considerably short, to my shame. Maybe, though concerted effort, I can close the gap between Senior's ideal tithe and actuality.

Thing is, I don't know where I'll get the time. Yes, I know: that's the devil's objection to prayer. But it's true. I sleep a little over eight hours a day, and I work over nine hours every day. That leaves about seven hours to do everything else: eat, exercise, play with children, help around the house.

Maybe Senior would give a dispensation to a guy with the financial obligation of providing for eight dependents.

Then again, it's not Senior's dispensation to give. That's the scariest part.