Aware of Prayer

Posted on Jul 24, 2017   Topic :

We quickly offer to pray for others. It’s second nature to receive an amazing blessing and confirm that God is good. When our hearts fill with compassion for others, or even for ourselves, we want healing and hope. But it’s not always our habit to follow up these kinds of offers, thoughts, and desires with prayer. And why is that? I’ll speak of the elephant in the room (someone has to point it out)…prayer doesn’t always seem like a real action.

When our prayer lives feel shallow, we’re probably tossing out prayers halfheartedly. When our prayer lives feel one-sided, we probably don’t want to hear God’s part of the conversation. God may be catching a glimpse of our heartfelt needs or our gratitude, but we’re missing out on genuine dialogue. Welcome opportunities to pray for others and for your own life. Be grateful for anything that leads you to God’s feet. Enter a time of prayer with an alert mind and an alert spirit, ready and waiting to receive God’s compassion, love, and healing.

As you light a candle, as you carve out a still, calm moment in the day’s perpetual activity, recognize your need for God in and through everything you face. View your life afresh as a prayer. Are you most in need of prayers formed by longing, invitation, forward motion, or the embodiment of God’s love? If you aren’t sure, ask God to reveal what you need. Then rest in the assurance that insight will be given along with the strength of unconditional love.

Care for your soul with tenderness. It’s the most important thing you can do today.

LIFE Reflections

If prayer feels less than real, figure out what element is missing. Are you truthful when you speak to God? Are you vulnerable? Are you even talking to God, or are you talking at God?

Prayer doesn’t require perfection, but it does require participation. Make the effort to be present.

Alertness doesn’t come easy. Give yourself rest, nutrition, exercise, and silence, and see if you are more awake for your times of prayer (and more in tune with your life).

Intention: I will start treating the action of prayer with more respect. I will become faithful in this way to experience how reverence gives life to everyday sacred moments.

Prayer

I will sit with you today, God, because I know you see me, hear me, and know me. I’ll sit with you, because there is peace in your presence. I’ll sit with you even when the right words don’t come to me, because I know you know my heart inside and out. I’ll sit with you, because it’s time I recognize prayer as one of the most meaningful gifts you created.

Read more in Life as a Prayer by Hope Lyda

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