And the Thunder Rolls...

Last night and this morning Las Vegas had thunderstorms rolling through. I was actually surprised that the thunder and lightening was still going on as morning approached. Usually it blows over long before morning. For most of the night my area didn't get any actual rain, but the light show was spectacular.

At about 6am, the rain started coming down hard. It was beautiful. I have always been a big fan of rain and thunderstorms. So I was too excited to go back to sleep. I just had to enjoy the weather as fully as I could because it doesn't come along very often.

I got up, wrapped myself up in a blanket, made myself a piping hot latte and sat down on the couch to pray my rosary while I watched the storm. This rosary is for the intention of... I prayed. Although the thunder was starting to rumble further and further in the distance, as soon as I finished my intention there was an enormous and deafening clap of thunder. Let me just say that I have had enough happen to me that I have stopped believing in coincidences.

As I sat there in the semi-dark, praying, I had one of those delicious moments when you can feel God's presence. I was filled with such an overwhelming love and joy. I thanked Him for the countless blessings in my life.

And I thanked him for the beautiful thunderstorm, which woke me up and brought me to that perfect moment of prayer and worship, to the ideal way to start my day.

When Life Gets in the Way

I want God to be an integral part of my everyday life. Hence the attempts at praying the Rosary daily. But in the last couple of weeks while I was working a temporary "part time" job for AOL, I was actually working every free moment I had.

Rosaries went by the wayside as I ate breakfast at the computer and then continued to work throughout the morning without a break. At night I fell into bed too tired to think, much less pray like I usually do. Only a brief, "All glory and honor are yours, Almighty God..." and then I was asleep.

I am done with those work deadlines now, so its time to resume my usual prayer habits. But what disturbs me is that they should have gone by the wayside at all. They should have stayed, and everything else should have gone by the wayside. I feel like life got in the way of prayer, and my entire state of mind seemed focused on earthly things. And I am disappointed in myself.

Do I pray because I have nothing better to do? Or do I pray because God is the first priority in my life? I think this little stint may have revealed the ugly truth. Ew.

Opus Dei has the right idea about living our faith out during the most mundane of tasks. I want to do that - see God in every detail. But it has not been working out that way for me these last couple of weeks. Its like I suddenly forgot all about God - that is how unconsciously it happened. I "woke up" two weeks later and realized I had somehow forgotten God during my busy time.

I feel so weak. And I don't want this to happen ever again. How do I avoid this in the future? How can I start living my faith even in the most mundane of tasks, even when life gets too busy for everything else? How do I accomplish that?