Prayers for Boring Days

Life can be filled with interruptions, anxieties, and curve balls. So much so that I often find myself asking God, "...please give me boring days."

Boring days? Depending on who you are I'm sure they look quite different.

For 27-year-old me, it's being able to go through my daily motions without encountering stressful situations. It's getting home early enough to watch my favorite shows and cook a delicious dinner. It's being able to spend time with my fiancé, laugh with my friends, and catch up with my mom and dad over the phone.

Seven years ago, my boring days looked very different. Maybe it started with a late class (late obviously being after 11AM), followed by a later lunch, possibly a nap (nap obviously being more than 2 hours), and hanging out with my friends at night.

However, it wasn't until recently that I realized something: here I am begging God to give me boring days, but not allowing Him to be a part of them. It's quite obvious that conversations with God or time alone for quiet reflection and gratitude for my blessings does not appear in my "boring days" definitions—neither as a 20-year-old college student or as a 27-year-old young professional.

This must change.

Being twenty-something is tough. You're trying to find that balance between having fun, making good choices, preparing for the future, and building your relationship with Christ. You have days where you laugh in the face of uncertainty, and others when that pesky off switch for your mind's constant questions seems broken. You have days when finishing that project on time (or early!) seems like a breeze, and others where waking up on Sunday for Church seems more impossible than breathing. You pray for "boring days", instead of praying for opportunities to encounter Christ in your daily life.

As I'm approaching my 28th birthday next week, I think I will change my simple prayer to something with more depth, richness, and truth for what I am seeking: 

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, meekness of mind, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea O Lord an King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen. 

-St. Ephraim the Syrian-

My wonderful fellow twenty-somethings, take the time every day—as I will—to recite this beautiful prayer from St. Ephraim. It will certainly help in our quest for balanced, loving, driven, Christ-focused days.