The Practice of Prayer

Almost every morning, I light a candle, sit down with my cup of coffee and pray. After 47 years, this has become a daily practice. But just the other morning, after I had gotten the kids out the door, and I was making my coffee and putting a few things in the dishwasher, the thought came to me: "I have GOT to go sit down and pray. NOTHING else is more important today." And I realized that after years of practicing prayer, it had finally, for at least that particular day, truly become my priority. Years ago my Spiritual Director, Sr. Breta, had told me that she had never seen a person who wanted to pray more than me, yet had a harder time developing the discipline of the daily practice of prayer. I must confess that I hate discipline. That is, I hate routine, I hate being told what to do. I am not an athlete so I have never trained for much of any physical challenge.

I have discovered the word spiritual "practice" works much better for me, rather than spiritual "discipline" (even though they are the same thing). But I have spent most of my life trying to develop the practice, as a follower of Jesus, of daily prayer.

I remember, when I was in college, joining some fellow students in a thing called something like "The John Wesley Great Experiment" where we made a covenant to get up at 4 a.m. (before God wakes up!) to pray on our own at home, and then gather once a week to share our experiences. If it was good enough for John Wesley, then it was good enough for us! At other times in my life, for weeks, even months at a time, I would pray the Psalms every morning. I remember these times as good seasons of feeling more centered and balanced. I was journaling more, and sensing the presence of God. But then there were the days when I just felt too tired to get up to pray and be with God. So the practice fell by the wayside, until another season.

I am not a perfect praying person. I am not a perfect Jesus-follower. So there you have it. My confession. I try to pray every day. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I do not. Right now, I am in a pretty good season of prayer. I would not have the strength to plant The Village Church, were I not in a season of life in which prayer is my priority. But I am here to bear witness to the fact that prayer is something takes practice.

So . . how about you? How is your practice of prayer going these days? What are your obstacles or challenges? Do you have any tips you can share with the rest of us? Want to meet me for a cup of coffee and chat about it? You can give your comments below, or e mail me at Cheri@Villageohio.org.