What Is Prayer?

It’s something you are never too young for, yet never too old. You could spend all day doing this, yet a few minutes works just as well. You can do this walking or sitting, singing or talking, when you are angry or sad, happy or grateful. You will never, as long as you live, run out of reasons to do this nor will you ever regret the time you dedicated to it.  

You can be an expert or a novice with the same result. It can be incredibly challenging and entirely easy all at the same time. You can do it in any language and you will always be understood. It is never — and I mean never — a poor use of time. It is appropriate for any and all situations, under any and all circumstances.

We Need This
  

Our world is in desperate need of this and honestly, it can’t be overdone. There is not one person walking this earth that doesn’t need this, nor one person that doesn’t deserve it. It changes things. Plain and simple. It heals what is broken, makes new what has failed and finds what has been lost.  

It is not magic, yet it can often be mistaken for something that should be as easy as the snap of your fingers or the wave of your hand. It can take moments or years and sometimes requires a dedication of time and energy that leaves you tired and weary, yet you continue, as you know no other way to be.    

At some point it becomes part of you, as natural a rhythm to your day and life as the beating of your heart. You no longer need to make a conscious choice to do it. It somehow becomes as necessary as the air you breathe. In and out, in good times and in bad. In and out, a plea for help or an unloading of gratitude. It is a constant grounding in truth.  

It works best in the quiet but can also break through the noise around you in a way nothing else can. It’s better than a long-awaited homecoming, more comforting than the embrace of your favorite person and more refreshing than the feel of the ocean on a hot summer’s day.  

It is always available and never runs out. It can be specific or general, rooted in frustration and anger, joy and thanksgiving or fear and foreboding and it will always be received. There are no firewalls, spam folders or undeliverables — only acceptance, openness and answers.   

Can You Be Vulnerable

It requires honesty and vulnerability: a submission to the truth that you do not know it all and an openness to answers you may not expect or understand. There is freedom in that, but it takes a level of letting go that can, at first, be entirely disarming. Once you feel the peace this brings however, you will run to it over and over again like a child running to her parent’s open arms.  

You won’t know if you don’t try. It may feel awkward at first or you may feel somehow inept or unworthy, as if you need some sort of certificate or degree to participate. It’s a risk, you know. You may try it and not get the answer you were hoping for or maybe it just doesn’t come on your timeline. Do it once and you’re sure to want to try it again. It can be addictive — a little here, a little there and all of a sudden you find yourself entirely dependent — in the best way. 

“What is prayer?” you say. Yes. That’s it. Prayer. Prayer is (always) the answer.