I was reading through the last 4 chapters of the Song of Solomon today. I know there are different interpretive frameworks for the book: a straightforward, if highly figurative, treatment of romantic love, or an allegory of sorts for the relationship between the Lord and us. I don’t know which is more likely, maybe both in some sense, but this morning, after I finished, I set myself to pray. 

Normally what I like to do is take something from the passage I’ve just read and use that as a meditating point for my time with the Lord. Today as I closed up the Bible and started to pray, the phrase from the text “Come away with me” (8:14) popped into mind. So I spent some time meditating on that. 

It has been some while since I really invested a lot of time in prayer. 

Years ago I set myself to do so. I would spend an hour in the morning, an hour midday, and a hour in the evening. I would do my level best to really focus and be present with the Lord. But I’m not kidding you, I probably would go about 30 seconds max before my mind would wander off. 

At some point I became convinced that the meditating attempts, at least in the way I was doing it, were probably not going to bear much fruit. I also found that the times I connected the most were when I was considering a passage and really just chewing on it, and then the Lord would begin to bring me insight. So over the years, I dropped the effort to “be still and quiet” and instead focused my efforts more on ruminating on the scriptures than just trying to sit still. Maybe that works for others, I don’t know, but it never worked well for me. 

But the call this morning wasn’t so much to just sit still, as just to renew the time spent. I don’t have the free time like I used to. When I worked for myself, I could spend that kind of time, but I don’t work for myself anymore. And before you tell me to get up earlier, I already get up at 4:45am to spend some time. But even so, my time with the Lord could definitely be more quality, even before I worry about quantity.