The tone of my life...

"Life is a whole. The pious frame of the hour of prayer is judged by God from the total frame of the ordinary daily life of which the hour of prayer is but a small part. Not the feeling I muster up, but the tone of my life during the day, is God's criterion of what I really am and desire. My drawing near to God is one with my relationship with men and earth; failure here will cause failure there."
Andrew Murray, The Believers School of Prayer, "Prayer and Love"

I think about that statement not just in the context of "men and earth," but also with my family. "Not the feeling I muster up," when I'm tired, when I'm not feeling well, when tasks from in and from out are pressing- "the tone of my life during the day."

I settle so easily into prayer, and lean into the peace of sitting before my Father, communicating, me! with the God of the Universe. But do I live as comfortably, with the same peace? Does my family recognize the peace, the joy, of my salvation?

My prayer echoes Mr. Murray's:
Lord Jesus, my blessed teacher, teach me to forgive and to love. Let the power of your blood make the pardon of my sins such a reality, that forgiveness, as shown by you to me, and by me to others, may be the very joy of heaven. Show me whatever in my relationship with fellowmen might hinder my fellowship with God, so that my daily life in my own home and in society may be the school in which strength and confidence are gathered for the prayer of faith. Amen.