"We cannot force God into a relationship. God comes to us on his own initiative, and no discipline, effort, or ascetic practice can make him come. All mystics stress with an impressive unanimity that prayer is “grace”— that is, a free gift from God, to which we can only respond with gratitude. But they hasten to add that this precious gift indeed is within our reach. In Jesus Christ, God has entered into our lives in the most intimate way, so that we could enter into his life through the Spirit" Henri Nouwen

God's grace is there, inviting us to pray. But there are times we do not respond to that grace, because other things are deemed more important. We fail to remember the command of God: You shall have no strange gods before me. I alone am God. When we don't make time to respond to the grace of God to spend time with him, isn't that a form of idolatry? We are making something more important to us than our relationship with God. To place something or someone before God is making that person or thing an idol, which I give my time and energy to, rather than to the one who created me. Put first things first.