Think, Pray, and Devote

As I was "doing" my devotions Sunday morning before church, I was thinking. I was thinking about how I frequently miss my readings or devotions during the week and then catch up on Saturday and Sunday. It's not that I don't pray during the week. In fact I pray lots. My husband and I also pray together every night before we go to sleep. Yet studying God's Word and listening to others' writings that relate to God and faith, I put off. My justification is, 'well at least I do devotions on the weekend'.

When I was a child, my parents read to us every night from the child devotional, "Little Visits with God" and "More Little Visits with God". We did the same with our children, although we included short, Christian books. There was a series from Concordia Publishers called Arch Books, that was quite good and we read those too, sometimes over and over. Point being, when our kids were in elementary school, we "did" family devotions and prayed with them before bed. As they got older, we would try to have devotions, especially during Advent and Lent.

Back to devote. Merriam-Webster Dictionary on line defines devote:
1: to commit by a solemn act <devoted herself to serving God>
2: to give over or direct (as time, money, or effort) to a cause, enterprise, or activity
Other similar words or synonyms are: allocate, consecrate, dedicate, earmark, give up (to), reserve, save, set by, set apart, set aside.

So, devote is serious. Devotion to God. And that can't be squeezed just into a weekend. It's an every day and every moment devotion to God and Jesus Christ. I plan to step up my devotions to every day, and maybe just do longer thinking, devotions, and prayers on the weekends.