Hazy Days

Back in my youth group days, we used to go to a summer youth camp every year. Crazy-awesome youth camp that I loved so much that now I'm taking my youth group there. But ANYway, that has nothing to do with this story... :)

All the youth would be divided into large groups called "nations" and we would play nation games for hours out in the blazing hot Texas sun. My friends and I were passionate and intense about pretty much anything we did. In fact, youth group motto was "Pray Hard, Play Hard." I guess you'd have to hear us pray to fully appreciate that statement... So my sis and I would pull out the face-paint and nation armbands and became the hardcore nation motivators. One day, I even put paint all throughout my cute pixie-cut hair.

The problem was this: Water was also involved in these nation games. And the water streamed down my head, washing that paint (warning label: do not apply near eyes) right into my sensitive eyes. There was burning and crying and... then... I walked around for the next seven hours, asking people, "does it look hazy in here to you? Do you see that white fog right there? * pointing to my peripheral vision*? It's cloudy! I see clouds! In the hallway! Right there! In Texas!" Needless to say, they all thought I was crazy!!! And I was! Finally, they sent me to the nurse for eye drops or something.

If you read this entire story, you are probably wondering what this has to do with ANYTHING. But there's a point. Really.

Hazy. Cloudy. And a bit foggy. That's how I feel about life without prayer. When I get into the presence of God and lay things out before Him, there is clarity. Instead of seeing things as they are not, I begin to see things as they truly are. Psalm 119:130 says, "The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." In prayer, when I speak to God and hear His voice speaking to me, there is light in previously dark areas. Places of confusion become clear. Places of perplexity become simple. The mysterious becomes plain. Prayer, that daily secret place with God, is the way to break through the hazy days... Only with the light of God's presence.