Today as I was working out on the elliptical machine, I realized that I hadn’t prayed the Rosary yet today.  That’s not entirely unusual because my prayer life is pretty inconsistent.  I’ll pray daily for weeks, and then I’ll slack off for awhile.  Anyhow, I’m trying to get back into praying the Rosary (among other things) daily, so I began to pray while I worked out. The gym may not be the best place to pray, but prayer was a heck of a lot better than the soap opera that was on the television.

As I came to the fourth Sorrowful Mystery, I had some thoughts that were new to me. These may be thoughts that you’ve already had, but what can I say — I’m a little slow sometimes! As I often do, I thought about the times when Jesus fell, but this time I focused on something else — the way that he got back up.

As I said before, my prayer life has ebbs and flows. Sometimes I’ll pray for an hour per day, and sometimes I will abandon prayer for a week or more. I’ll still say a quick prayer of thanksgiving now and again, and I’ll say the “Bless us O Lord” prayer before dinner, but that’s it. The rest of my spiritual life has its ups and downs as well. There are days when I feel as though I’m walking on a cloud, and then days when the temptations of the world drag me down into the gutter. Actually, as I think about it, its the latter days that usually get me out of my prayer routine.

But I tend to focus too much on the way that I fall. I feel like I should be stronger than I am, and holier than my thoughts and actions reflect. I get down on myself. I feel like I’m not good enough, and I feel bad for disappointing God. What I need to do is what Jesus did — get back up. It’s not like I’m being asked to carry a giant cross up a hill (after being beaten mercilessly) so that I can face certain death. I’m just being asked to stay close with God — doing His will — which is always the best thing for me anyhow! I should be praying even when I don’t feel like praying. Even if I don’t feel good enough, I need to be thanking God for all that I am and all that He gives me.

I’m not perfect, and I never will be. I’ll continue to fall, although I hope it will happen less often as time goes by. One thing is certain though, I have to keep getting back up.