Thoughts on Prayer
And what about prayer?
What is prayer all about and how do you do it properly?
If you’ve ever tried to pray, perhaps you have your stories of struggle, of staying awake until the “amen” and of making a coherent string of thoughts in prayer so that God is pleased with you, and you get a gold star for the day because of your prayer.
Hmmm. Consider this:
“Just patch a few words together
and don’t try to make them elaborate.
This isn’t a contest but a doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”
Mary Oliver – Poet
Mary was not a theologian nor a biblical scholar. She was in touch with life in her own way as a poet and writer.
However, I think she was onto something with this quote.
Praying is not a contest to see who can pray the most eloquent thoughts, or the most beautiful phrases or string together the perfect synonyms for creative thoughts on God.
Praying is based on sincerity, humility, and intent of the heart.
I love Mary’s analogy of prayer as a “doorway into thanks”. Simple thanks.
Ann Lamont wrote once that “‘Help’ just might be one of the most profound prayers ever uttered.
When the burdens are heaviest, when the way is darkest, when the mind is cluttered with too much information or not enough of a sense of God, then perhaps “help” is the most appropriate prayer we can pray.
I’ve used that one a few times in my life.
I have some mulling to do on Mary’s last thought.
“And a silence in which another voice may speak.”
Silence. Isn’t that one of the eight deadly sins of the church? We can’t sit still and silent for too long for fear that half of the congregation will fall asleep.
Ah, what if we use that silence as a true tuning in time? What if God wanted to say something to us and was waiting for us to simmer down, hush up, and quite yakking long enough to whisper an important thought into our minds?
Now, wouldn’t that be something.
That’s the kind of praying to which I can relate.
It goes like this.
Come in, with no agenda, no prepared speech (prayer) and no worries about what I am going to say and no fear that I’ll say the wrong thing or leave out someone or something for which I should pray. Whew.
And then, in the stillness, the quiet quieter than quiet, what if God whispered to you and me? What if He started with something simple like, “Hey you. I love you.”
That would really be something.
A real, honest-to-goodness God-moment.
P Michael Biggs
Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration
