2 Nephi 32:9

"But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."
2 Nephi 32:9


Reading this today my first thought was why... why would we need to pray first, since God already knows what we're doing, and why? And then I prayed about it, which is always a good thing to do when I don't understand. :) I think there is a lot here. One of the reasons is that it helps us to build a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Another is that it helps us to remember what is at the center of our lives... who that central figure is. We often act as though we are that central figure... and sometimes, when life isn't going very well, we are. But when we do this--when we make the effort to put God first--then our lives go better, and we are more centered in general. That focus on God instead of on ourselves gives us a little more room to listen and understand before we react... when we remember that our actions and lives aren't about us and how offended/sad/lonely we are (or whatever we're feeling), but that they are about God and that relationship. We can keep our cool better; we can perform better; we can be happier. That's how we make even our daily jobs and daily routine spiritual. We pray about it. We look for ways to dedicate our lives to God, even while we're living in the world. So, today, let's pray about whatever we're doing. However routine our day is today... this is how God will bless us: by dedicating it to our welfare, and helping us find the spiritual in the midst of the mundane. :)