Resting in Prayer

There are many definitions of what prayer means, usually defined by what we are taught and then the life experiences that continue to shape that meaning. While I grew up believing prayer was a time to recite a prayer that I had been given, it also was a time to be thankful for what I have and to ask for protection of those that I care about.

But as I've gotten older, I've begun to understand that prayer is also a time to ask for whatever it is that we want. I have talked about before how often people are afraid to do this– to ask for anything. 

My prayers are jumbled with sentences– despite the fact that life is always a roller coaster of ups and down, there is always much to be thankful for– and being a person who wants to keep opening doors and moving through them, there is also much that I ask for.

What I am not good at is taking the time during prayer to listen. Finally I realized it was much more than that though, I discovered that for me prayer is a time of rest.

In many ways this feels counterintuitive to what I have been taught, about always seeming to be speaking during prayer. However, for someone like me who is constantly in motion, there is that need to rest. And in that time of rest, it turns into a time of listening. Even if I don't hear anything.

I know that often prayer can feel barren, it can feel empty, but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening. The beauty of life is that we never know what will unfold in front of us.

But if we don't rest during prayer, we won't give the unfolding a chance to happen as it should.