Susanna Wesley's Apron - Recognizing Prayer as the Saving of Time

Susanna Wesley had born nineteen children in same number of years. Her husband, Samuel was often away from home, so she usually found herself alone with the children. There was never any shortage of things to do in the Wesley household with meals to be cooked, lessons needing to be taught, rooms that needed to be cleaned and children who needed attention. Besides those things, every week Susanna made a point of spending an hour alone with each of her children. Often she struggled with her health and on top of this there were many trials to bear. It seemed like there was always a weight upon her shoulders. First she had been separated from her husband for a year due to an argument they had over politics. In the course of those nineteen years nine of her children had died in infancy. They had lost two houses to fire and lived in state of constant poverty for Samuel had little understanding of money and would not accept her help with the finances. He was put into debtors prison twice due to the large amounts of money they owed! It was a difficult life she faced yet she did not walk in it without grace. The grace of knowing her Savior.

"He is so infinitely blessed, that  every perception of His blissful presence imparts a gladness to the heart. Every degree of approach to Him is, in the same proportion, a degree of happiness." She said. 
If anyone could claim to be too busy to pray it would be Susanna Wesley and yet she made no opportunity for such an excuse. Instead she knelt before her God for two hours every day. There was no place in the little house for her to go to be alone, no where that was silent or free from distractions, so she would kneel wherever she was and simply flip her apron over her head. Her children knew this meant their mother was praying and even the smallest did not disturb her. In the midst of a life that produced constant demands on her time Susanna Wesley made a place for her God. She guarded those hours to meet with Him against all distractions because she knew that He alone could give her what she needed to do everything else.

There are two problems that most of us face when trying to pray. The first is that we find ourselves to be "too busy to pray". This is a trouble to which Susanna Wesley was no stranger. Yet she did not accept that estimation to be true. Yes, she was busy, but she could never be too busy to pray!


"Sometimes we think we are too busy to pray. That is a great mistake, for praying is the saving of time. You remember Luther's remark, "I have so much to do today that I shall never get through it with less than three hour's prayer." ... If we have no time we must make time, for if God has given us time for the secondary duties, He must have given us time for primary ones, and to draw near to Him is a primary duty, and we must let nothing set it on one side. Your other engagements will run smoothly if you do not forget your engagement with God." - Charles H. Spurgeon

Even in our 'busy' lives there are numerous things that we manage to make time for just because we believe we have to. Stopping at the gas station in a perfect example of this. Even when you are in a hurry to get somewhere important you will stop to get gas if you notice that your tank is on empty, or even near empty. You do this because you know that, though it takes time, it is saving you time as well. It would take you so much longer to get where you are going if you had to walk or if you were waiting on the side of the road for someone to bring you gas. This is just common sense and you apply it everyday. The same is true of prayer. Why are you saying that you don't have time to pray when you waste hours trying to accomplish what only God can? As Susanna Wesley modeled pray and you will find that you have time for it. 

The second detriment to a life of prayer is distraction. This can come in many forms yet all, if entertained, cause us to forget our appointment with God. You may be on your knees and still not be praying if you entertain the distractions that come. You would count it strange if you were having an important discussion with someone and they suddenly forgot all about you and walked off to attend to something else. It would be even more surprising if that person returned to you and apologized, but then did the same thing all over again - perhaps even several times. You would very likely take offense at such treatment, or at the very least deduct that the person does not care very much about the discussion. They could not even be bothered to give their attention to it. Unfortunately this is exactly what we do to God when we allow ourselves to be distracted from prayer.

In a sermon I listened to several years ago, the pastor spoke of a season when he found himself distracted every time he would try to pray. As soon as he closed his eyes, all of the things he had forgotten to do would suddenly come to mind. He would continue praying but his attention was diverted for he was busy trying to keep from forgetting those things again. After struggling to pray on several occasions he finally came up with a practical solution. The next time he went to pray he laid a pad of paper and a pencil beside him. As usual he was reminded of a task that had slipped his mind earlier in the day. This time he was ready. He paused his prayer.

 "Thank-you Satan for reminding me of that, I will take care of it as soon as I finish talking to God." He said aloud, making a note of it on the pad of paper. Returning to prayer he finally found freedom to focus on his God. This became his regular habit.

“Don’t pray when you feel like it.  Rather, have an appointment with the Lord, and keep it!” - Corrie Ten Boom 

Distractions will come. You are responsible only for how you handle them. We are supposed to be "...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians x. 5) That can apply to thoughts that are idle as well as to those that are sinful -  either one can hinder us from being near to our God. 

Ultimately Susanna Wesley prayed because she knew her need for God. She refused to make excuses or allow distractions because she was desperate to access the supply of grace that she knew He had for her. We also need to recognize our need; to see the mistake we have made in allowing prayer to go unused and ask God to help us to pray.

“Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.” — D. L. Moody

In Christ

quiana