WHEN I WAS A SENIOR MANAGER over a large division of engineers working on the Hubble Space Telescope project, I covered two jobs that required more than my full-time attention. One particular week, I was also organizing and attending a demanding two-day seminar, as well as participating in a series of interviews for a promotion I was seeking. I felt as if everything was getting chaotic and out of balance, and I needed a better sense of equilibrium in my life.
But proper balance, I knew, meant putting first things first. And experience has taught me that just when I'm busiest, the first and most important item on my list should be to pray. When I make time for prayer, I'm able to proceed much more smoothly and unhurriedly through the rest of my day.
So that week, I used my one-hour commute in the morning to pray about the pressure I was feeling. My prayers took different forms. I asked for God's wisdom and knowledge, which reassured me of His power and presence. Sometimes my prayer would reveal to me a specific course of action for the day. Both in silence and in song, I expressed my gratitude to God for His goodness. And I listened to CDs of the Bible and Science and Health for inspiration. Whatever form my prayer took, it helped me realize that if God's work was perfect, my work could be, too, since my makeup is really spiritual in nature, and I express God in every way.
