The Two Most Important Things

When everything in life is boiled down to the essential, what are the most important things that we can do in life. I know someone will disagree with me (you just gotta love how we all have our opinions and we all think we are right), but I have come up with what I believe are the two most important things in the whole world. Here they are:

1. Sleep. No matter what comes at you, good or bad, you can always deal with it better if you are well rested. In your relationships with others, you will always respond better to people if you have had plenty of sleep. When your body is not run down, you can think more clearly and you are just a better person in everything that you do. When you get enough sleep, you can hear and respond better to the Holy Spirit as well which leads to the second most important thing in life which is

2. Prayer. Anytime, I think I can handle things on my own, I am in trouble. Anytime I go a season without talking intimately with God, I am done. My focus turns quickly to myself and my struggles seem like huge mountaintops. I find that when I am overwhelmed or just in a dark spot, the best place for me to be is on my knees. When I get up off my knees, my circumstances have not changed but my heart and attitude have. Prayer changes me. And the cool thing about prayer is that if our hearts are pure, then our prayers are "powerful and effective" (James 5:16) to bring about the purposes and plans of God. That is so awesome. Prayer is good for me and good for others. Check out this quote from Theresa of Avila (1515-1582) about prayer - "Prayer is the way to open ourselves to God, and the way in which He shows us our unstable hearts and begins to strengthen them....If you ever find yourself in this spiritual state - feeling wayward, unstable in heart, confused as to why you are not growing and changing in the Lord - I say this: keep turning from sin, and cling to the Lord in prayer!"

If I do both of these things well, my life and walk with God are on track and going places. If I do neither well, then forget about it. I will be having a pity party within 48 hours but probably sooner. My life cannot be on track when I do not spend plenty of time resting my body and feeding my soul! These two things are essential! A lot of the things that we think are so important and that we spend so much time on need to take a back seat to the two "most important things". Our lives would be more balanced and productive in the temporal and the eternal.