What is a “well-designed” prayer life? Design is a kind of pattern placement and recognition. It’s what we do if we are lucky enough to re-do our kitchen or our bathroom. Design is a source of beauty, a source of proportion, a source of artistic control over the material of our lives.
When we pray Morning Prayer, one that forecasts, we give ourselves artistic control over our daily material. We can even plan our meals or choose what to forget for the day. I have a little (and I do mean little) custom designed yoga practice that I do in my kitchen. When I tell people about it, they always get weird and ask me if I do it every day. I have to tell them “Of course not.” I am not that disciplined. Do I do it most days? Yes.
If we are lucky enough to have designed a devotional practice, or regular meals and a regular thanksgiving for those meals, or even just a daily collect that is well-written and well-remembered, we are already praying habitually.
This message is excerpted from “Make prayer a habit” by Donna Schaper in the March 2019 Gather magazine.
Copyright © 2024 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected].