More

I have more understanding than all my teachers, 

 - From Psalm 119

I discovered something transformational in the past couple of weeks. 

In attempting to complete a daily list of tasks, I was always coming up short. Invariably, I would put the really important things, like practicing my music, reading, and most importantly, prayer, to the bottom of the list, so that I can focus on more "urgent" things. 

I got the idea to have a goal of, say, ten minutes per day in focused prayer. But still I wasn't getting to it. 

I broke the ten minutes into one minute sessions, that I would accumulate until reaching ten minutes for the day. But that didn't work either. So I tried something crazy and counter-intuitive . . . 

I broke the one-minute slots into one-second slots. I added a twist: these very short slots would be placed in my task list, every five or six items. And with each successive round, I would add a second, and keep track of the accumulations. 

Okay, by now the reader is thinking this all is just crazy. But here's what I discovered:

A one-second prayer, in which all I do is mouth the words "My Father, God," has way more power than we realize. In three seconds, you can say "My Father, my Creator . . . ". And by the time you get to ten seconds, you are including a short confession, or request for forgiveness. 

The main takeaway is this: Even one, five, ten, or thirty seconds of focused prayer can add great value to your entire day. And admittedly, this already is far more than most people do on any given day. A short break, just to fully focus and say "My Father God" has great power. I recommend it. 

And this gets us on our way to what the Psalmist is talking about in #119. All knowledge, all wisdom, all learning, all excellence . . . begins with a simple acknowledgement of God.