I attended the ADORE Worship Summit on Labor Day weekend in Houston, TX to take some time to pray--for myself.
Not to lead worship. Not to give a talk. Not to entertain. But to sit. And listen.

Through Adoration and various talks, God revealed something to me that weekend:

There's a difference between acknowledging God in prayer and truly seeking God in prayer.
For when we really seek God, we really find Him.
And when we really find Him, we cannot help but leave prayer transformed,
having been more united to the God of eternity.

You know, acknowledging God throughout the day is a great thing. Saying, "Thank You, Lord, for this beautiful day!" or attending daily Mass or praying a rosary or reading scripture or praying before bedtime--acknowledging God's presence in various ways--are all wonderful things.

But there is a difference when we sit and seek; when we allow ourselves to be united with God in prayer; when daily mass or scripture or the rosary or nightly prayer time becomes transformative.

In a spousal imagery, it's the difference between having a surface-y conversation with your loved one ("how was your day? what's new? what's going on at work?") and actually having a deep conversation ("what's going on in your heart today? where are you at right now in your relationship with God? How was God present in your life today?"), allowing us to know AND love our spouse more fully.

Acknowledging God = staying on a surface-y level with Him. Seeking God = going deeper, looking at where we are, WHO we are, and finding ourselves in Him.

I told this to Robert Feduccia (a brilliant and holy man, who happens to also be the General Manager for SpiritandSong.com), and he gave me this fitting scripture verse:

"...but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit."
----2 Corinthians 3:16-18

Thus, a true seeking and finding of God LIFTS the veil and allows us to be SO united with Him that we actually are transformed more into His very IMAGE! The very IMAGE and LIKENESS that we were created with in the beginning... The IMAGE of purity, the IMAGE of love, the IMAGE of humility, the IMAGE of joy, the IMAGE of peace.

SEEKING God allows the veil to be lifted, leaving us VULNERABLE before God (something many of us are scared of being), and allowing us to see God more clearly. We see who He is and we see who we are. We see where we are and where we need to be.

Lastly, when we seek God, we seek LOVE ("God is love" - 1 John 4:8). And thus, when we are transformed into God's image, we become better LOVERS. We LOVE God more. We LOVE ourselves more. We LOVE others more.

If that is the case, why wouldn't we want to SEEK God?

Why wouldn't we want to take the time to more LIKE Him?

Sitting in silence with scripture. Going to mass 20 minutes early to prepare our hearts and minds. Meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary carefully and prayerfully. Sitting before the Lord in Adoration for 15-30-45 minutes. Giving God 15 minutes before bedtime to reveal Himself.

It's all the difference in the world when we become united with the Creator of the world.