Prayer

My husband was dedicated today as a chaplain at our Unity church.  It got me thinking about the many different ways that we pray.  For years I was uncomfortable with the idea of prayer, because whatever special connection people I knew who prayed had with God, I didn't seem to have it.  It seemed to me at the time that prayer was all about someone asking God for something, and then having it materialize.  But the people I saw never seemed to be getting anywhere in the things they prayed for.  When they didn't get what they had asked of God, they explained it as "God's will," and left me wondering why people prayed in the first place.  I wasn't sure what talent or skill a person needed to have God not only hear them, but also answer.  Whatever it was, I knew I didn't have it.  It didn't seem like the people around me had it either.

As I've moved along on my own path, I've come to see prayer much differently.  I see now that because God lives in all things, she expresses not only through me but as me.  There is no separation between the God who hears my prayers and, well, me.   And so it is for us all.

Prayer for me now is ever-closer communication with the God within.  When I pray to the God outside of myself, I am praying to myself as well, to that all-knowing, ever-perfect and light-filled part of me that is God.  God and I are co-creators in this game called life, so I am in constant connection with divine order, perfect intelligence, and love that knows no bounds.  All that I choose to be, I am.  Prayer is saying hello to that.

I have always resonated with the way it is described in Neale Walsch's Conversations With God:  "The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication but a prayer of gratitude.  When you thank God in advance for that which you choose to experience in your reality, you, in effect, acknowledge that it is there . . .  Thankfulness is thus the most powerful statement to God; an affirmation that even before you ask, I have answered.  Therefore never supplicate.  Appreciate."

I recognize now that it is not about a God outside of me who answers prayers, sometimes.  We are part of a much more flawless reality.  There was a quote in the service at Unity today whose author I don't remember, but it went something like, "When God sees me in prayer, he sees me through the same eyes that I see him with."  The kingdom of heaven is within.

My husband has learned to pray with people, helping create a space where the truth of their own heaven within can come to light.  I still get down on my knees, sometimes, when I most need the comfort of feeling held by a power greater than myself, although I recognize that I exist as that power, too.  We can pray out loud, or in our heads.  A favorite form of prayer for me is writing letters to God, which I've described in previous posts.  I love writing, and for me the act of grounding my thoughts on paper, and then waiting for my hand to know what to write in response, is very clear and direct.

Prayer can be out loud, or silent.  It is not only speaking to God, but listening also.  Sometimes that's all I do, just sit and listen.  In truth, every thought we have is a prayer.

May you be grateful for prayers answered, and may this tool be a blessing. . .