My father’s illness revealed how sparse my prayer life was. I might say a few short sentence prayers, pray the Lord’s Prayer daily and pray during worship. I prayed a lot more when I was confronted with illness or when I needed something from God. I was making God into a relationship I only turned to when I was in trouble.
A wise friend reminded me that prayer is talking to God. When you are in a relationship, you need to communicate with each other to share your difficulties and what is happening in your life. In a good conversation, you listen as well. Instead of making God into an emergency first responder I decided to deepen my relationship with God, to speak to God more often, and sometimes patiently, wait for a response. For me, prayer has now become more of a resting; a trusting dwelling with one I know who loves me (and all the world) beyond human comprehension.
This message is excerpted from “Prayer changes things” by Ann L. Fritschel in the June 2018 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Catherine Winkworth, 1878, and John Mason Neale, 1866, hymn translators.
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