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Practices From the Inside Out: How and Why Do We Pray?

Practices From the Inside Out: How and Why Do We Pray?

Last updated on: June 7, 2017 at 5:25 am by Greg Richardson

Practices From the Inside Out: How and Why Do We Pray? 2017-06-07T05:25:36-08:00 Greg Richardson

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How and Why Do We Pray?

The churches where I spent time as a child had some strong ideas about prayer. They may not have had rules about praying, but there were clear guidelines and expectations.

I was taught, more than once, prayer was “talking to God.” Because God was, well, God, it was important to talk to God the right way. We talked to God with words, special words that sounded like the Bible or Shakespeare.

The words we used to talk to God were important. For example, God did not want us to swear. God wanted us to ask for help, but did not want an argument from us.

We could talk to God about anything. There did seem to be quite a few things in which God was not that interested. God was sort of a “big picture” guy.

We prayed because there were things beyond what we could understand or do ourselves. God was there to take care of things for us. We also prayed asking for forgiveness when we did something God did not want us to do.

It took years of practice for me to learn prayer does not really follow the guidelines.

Why Do We Pray?

Spiritual life is a relationship. We are drawn to find our connection to the deepest Sacred truths. Spiritual life fills us and helps us become open to the people, to the world, around us. We are in touch with the loving, healing, powerful Sacred truth.

There are times when we remember that relationship because we are in over our heads. Sometimes we are moved by awe and wonder at the things we see and experience. We may be comforted or challenged, inspired or stopped in our tracks.

Remembering our connection to the Sacred is the essence of prayer.

We may recognize the depth in something we have taken for granted. It may be seeing Sacred truth in someone else’s face, or in our own face in the mirror. We may read something, see a movie, look at a painting or sculpture, or taste something new. It could be a piece of music or a story someone shares with us.

The spark of that recognition lights the fire of prayer in us.

We pray because spiritual life attracts us. Yes, our relationship to the Sacred is beyond what we can understand and control. Our prayer is not a last resort when we cannot go any further. We pray to spend time in the love and healing of Sacred truth.

How Do We Pray?

Prayer is not about how we say what we say. Talking is not even necessary when we pray.

There is no wrong way to pray. Praying is not limited to particular kinds of words, or even any words at all. Our words do not need to sound like we are on a stage when we pray.

We do not pray because we need to inform or remind God about anything. There is no Sacred online store we visit to find what we need. Prayer is not about presenting a list of things we want or changes we would like to see.

Praying is not some kind of cosmic help desk where we make suggestions or ask for things.

I begin praying by taking a deep breath or two. We enter the loving Sacred presence without nervousness or fear. Remembering the relationship of spiritual life, we let go of what distracts our minds. We pay attention to the present moment of Sacred depth and truth.

I pray more with listening than with talking. Prayer is not about my to do or to be list, but about spending time with someone I enjoy.

We can spend time in an intimate relationship without saying a word. Prayer is the same.

Some people pray sitting down, some stand up, some kneel, some walk around. There are people who pray with their eyes closed and others keep them open. What is going on inside us, between us and the Sacred, is more essential than our posture.

God is interested in everything and not only certain topics. Sacred truth permeates everything we see, everything we can imagine.

What Does Prayer Do?

When we pray we are not trying to persuade or influence God. It is not as if we see things God may have missed and need to make sure nothing gets lost.

Prayer is how we recognize whether we are aligned with Sacred truth. We bring our concerns and loves, our ideas and anxieties into the light of the Sacred. Praying helps us develop and sustain a Sacred perspective.

We look and listen, discerning how our desires fit into spiritual life.

When we read about or watch some atrocity happening somewhere in the world we pray. It is not that we expect, somehow magically, the atrocity will not have happened. We bring the situation and the people directly affected by it into the light of sacred truth.

Praying is an appreciation we want to do what we can. We are paying attention and share our time and energy.

Our prayer is not how we influence God, but one of the ways God influences us. We open ourselves to the healing, loving presence of deep Sacred truth. Praying is how we put our trust into spiritual life.

Prayer is not a magic spell or a formula to get what we want. My prayer is most often about recognizing and remembering I cannot control what happens.

We do not wield spiritual life like a wand or a light saber. It flows through us when we allow ourselves to be open and honest.

We pause, take a few breaths, and recognize the power of deep, Sacred truth. Our prayer helps us perceive how that power is at work in us and in the world. Spiritual life draws us into active and intimate engagement with Sacred truth. Our prayer presents us with opportunities to practice spiritual life.

Questions

How and why do we pray?

What does prayer do?

[Image by “Stròlic Furlàn” – Davide Gabino]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].

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