Four Loves and Eight Hours

I've been pondering praying the hours lately, and talking with Eliana about the four loves. Tonight they converged as I sought a way to record the hours and how they might fit within the rhythm I currently live. This is what I came up with...

In the center, we have the Luther Rose, which reminds me to seek scripture over tradition, faith over works, and grace over merit. Praying the hours buys me nothing, earns me nothing, and means nothing if it does not keep me rooted in the Word. The golden rays remind me that all I do must be illuminated by the Word. The cross divides my day into quadrants, each containing two "hours." The hours themselves are in three hour intervals, from midnight to noon and back to midnight. The typical course of my day is seen in the hearts, each straddling two "hours" and filling one quadrant of the day, night, morning, afternoon, and evening. From midnight to six, I am generally sleeping. From six to eight, getting ready for the day, from eight to noon I am working, with my first class beginning at 8:50. From noon to three I spend visiting friends or reading. From three to six I am doing things around the house, picking Eliana up from school, getting dinner ready, etc. From six to nine we are eating dinner and doing household activities like homework, dishes, etc. From nine to midnight I am getting ready for bed and going to bed. As I looked at how my day was divided, I saw that the four loves nestle nicely into the quadrants, beginning with the time I spend solely with my spouse (eros), to the time I spend teaching children and interacting with coworkers (agape), to the time I spend with friends (philia), and the time I spend at home with my family (storge). While those quadrants do not impact praying the hours, they do remind me of the different ways I reflect God's love to others over the course of my day, and that is directly impacted by my time in scripture and prayer. The smaller circles before and after each hour provide space for putting aside my thoughts of the day and settling into prayer as well as stepping out of prayer and contemplating where God is leading me next in my day and activities. It is the time for easing into and out of formal prayer, while remaining in a state of watchfulness and wakefulness to the Spirit within and the world without.

I do not anticipate praying the Lauds, as I am usually asleep at 3am, but also leave room for restless, wakeful nights and remind myself to spend that time in prayer. If God sees fit to wake me, then I will praise Him for that time of prayer that would otherwise have been lost to me.