Religion
Prayer Ritual or Relationship?
By Dawn Marie Peters
Aug 23, 2005

Who one believes God to be is most accurately revealed … in the way one speaks to God when no one else is listening.
--Nancy Mairs, Ordinary Time

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.
--Mother Teresa


Do you have a 'ritual' that you feel you need to do before praying? Can you put that ritual aside, or is a mandatory thing for you in order for you to connect with Him?

If its something you find you HAVE to do, then I encourage you to try to begin to let go of your preplan of how you think you need to approach God... because if it's the ONLY way you can connect, or feel you did it the 'right' way then thats a ritualistic approach, and you may be more caught up in the ritual, rather than the relationship.

Anytime you have a thought, God hears it, in fact He hears it before you even formed it in your mind.. so why do we sometimes think that He will only hear us if its cloaked in thous, or this or that?

This is an example of how I talk with God.. .this morning when I woke up:

Stretch.... Good morning God... ahh... I love you.. do you know that God? I do.. big smiles... hit snooze button. Ok.. yep.. gotta get going.. what's today look like for me God? Please guide me today to make the right choices, give me wisdom at my office, let me be a blessing to my clients, to the community and too my therapists! Oh.. yes.. please bless my new intern.. I would like to see her have 2 clients today that will give her the feedback and the experience she needs! Thanks. Began singing some song that I cant remember right now, but it was a regular song, that I turned around and just began to sing it to God.. some love song... shrugs... doesnt matter...but I just use my every day life and events to be real and normal with Him.

That doesn't mean that I never get into such deep worship with Him and fall on my knees? Sometimes I cry and just stand in Awe of Him, I lay down and soak in His presence. I do those things yes, but they are not mandatory for me to enter His presence or for me to 'feel' that God is hearing me. For the regular everyday talking with Him it's pretty much laid out like I would talk to my friends.

We cannot change our relationship with God through good deeds, rituals or even seeking a spiritual existence. When we try to find God through these means, we will never have the assurance that we have found Him!

Some short steps in making your prayer life be more vibrant, real and practical:

1-Begin your day with an awareness of God-just a simply "Good morning" can turn your day's focus to Him.

2-Be thankful. Just realizing that you have things to be thankful for can shift your focus off the half empty glass you thought you had and now it looks pretty good half full!

3-Talk about what's on your heart, in your mind, even if it's something that you would deem insignificant. After all, this is the God who created you and took the time to count the number of hairs on your head, of course He cares. Nothing is too insignificant to Him!

4- Spread your prayer throughout the day. If you can't manage one solid block of time at once, divide your prayers into smaller segments several times a day. This keeps us in close contact with our God.

As you begin to incorporate talking to God more frequently, you will develop such a desire to spend more and more time with Him so don't be surprised at all the encouraging things God has to share with You as you get to know Him!

We pray best when we are no longer aware of praying.
Cassian, --quoted in John Howard Griffin, The Hermitage Journals

Love and Laughter,
Dawn Marie Peters