The Hours of the Day

I stared out my bedroom window this morning and watched the snow continue to fall. Not really fall, but more swirl and spin, as if its only destination was itself, that it would never reach the ground. Winter has been playing a game with me - I thought she had arrived and then it was warm again. She blew in a storm and then retreated. Now I think she is finally here to stay.

I have never been frightened of the world. I have never considered not having children because of the horrific things that happen to children everyday, or because I am afraid of what they will have to engage when they grow up. But today I am afraid. I realize how quickly life can be taken from us. After September 11th, I was a little nervous to fly, but not enough that it prevented me from flying. Now the forces of evil are everywhere - in shopping malls, at churches, in schools. The world, just like the snow outside, is spinning out of control, but I cannot be afraid. I cannot teach my children to be afraid.

As I was sitting at my window looking at the snow and all of this was going through my head, I began to think about Islam and how Muslims pray several times a day, and how they actually adopted this from the Christian Hours - yet how many of us Orthodox besides those in the monasteries actually pray the Hours. We structure our day around preschool, meals, workouts, TV programs, and somehow we fit prayer into our established routine when and if we can. How much more appropriate it would be if we could structure our day around prayer, that when the clock turned to nine, noonday, three o'clock, we would just drop everything and recite the prayers of that hour. In the Church we sanctify everything, restoring it to its proper function - we bless water, fruit, oil - bread and wine become Christ's Body and Blood - and we sanctify time with the rule of Vespers, Compline, the Midnight Office, Matins, the Hours. How everything we need is right before us, yet how often we are blind to it.

Today I did my morning prayers, and then I did the Sixth Hour, and how complete I felt after doing this. I did not feel rushed or anxious. The laundry would still be there, the dishes, the bills - but this was the needful thing.

The world is uncertain, but Christ is the fullness of all things. My life on this earth is uncertain, but the Life of this world is forever. I will pray, be vigilant, my hope being that whenever it is my time I will be ready to stand before God and give an account of my life. I will not be afraid, because that is exactly what the evil one wants, for if we are afraid, we are turned away from the one thing that can assuage all fears.