I fired my husband. This happened after a long-time friend recommended that Dave and I worship God for five minutes every morning. After that, we would pray, thanking Him and making our requests. A beautiful plan.

The first morning, Hubby’s responsibility was an easy one—set the timer for five minutes. Dave and I worshiped but ran out of things to say. Pathetic, I know, since Biblical people wrote lengthy praises that probably lasted for days. Several minutes after we started, Dave began to repeat himself. That’s when I opened my eyes and glanced at his phone, the phone that was supposed to have been set for the timer to go off in five minutes.

“5:00” was pulsing in large numbers. Hubby had not pressed the “Go” button.

The next morning, same thing. I praised God for what seemed to be three minutes, and then Dave took over, once again running out of things to say and so, repeating his sweet thoughts. Somehow, Hubby again had failed to press the “Go” button.

So, I fired him. “How can you fire someone for worshiping over five minutes?” he asked. I admit, I had no answer, but I said that I needed to be in charge. I’m sure he thought, No surprises there.

The next morning, I placed my phone between us and set the 5:00 timer. “This is how you start the countdown,” I announced in my teacher voice and pressed with great force on the timer button. Dave began the prayer, and when he finished, I took over…until what seemed like an eternity had passed. Peeking at the timer, I could not believe what I saw: “5:00!” Impossible! Was God behind this to teach me a lesson?

I hated to admit to Dave what had happened because I knew that he would find great delight in firing me like I had him, but if both of us were fired, who would press the button so we would know when five minutes had passed? This was a dilemma.

Maybe that was the point. Maybe we were to worship with no time constraint. Maybe God just wanted our hearts to be in line with His and not to the timer on our phone. The idea had been a great one because it was intended to help us develop a practice of worship, of letting our Heavenly Father know that we adore Him, and clearly we needed to develop that tradition. By just worshiping and not jumping into our prayer requests, God would be pleased.

Worship is critical if we call ourselves Christians. The Greek word for “worship,” proskuneō, means “to encounter God and praise Him.” The Bible lists dozens of scriptures that tell us so. Here, for instance, are two:

My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. — Psalm 71:8 ESV

And Jesus answered him (Satan), “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'” — Luke 4:8 ESV

Worshiping God means crediting to Him the absolute worth that He alone deserves, and although five minutes is a start (provided, of course, the timer actually starts), our entire lives should be about honoring Him. John Piper once said, “True worship is a joyful response to the greatness of God.” I’m guessing that does not include firing a spouse. I’m also guessing that an apology is in order.

— Patty A. LaRoche