Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers

by Anne Lamott

Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up.

But we can be big in prayer, and trust that God won’t mind if we pray about the cat and Jax’s tender heart.

I try not to finagle God. Some days go better than others, especially during election years. I ask that God’s will be done, and I mostly sort of mean it.

If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.

Often we do not get our way, which I hate, hate, hate. But in my saner moments I remember that if we did, usually we would shortchange ourselves.

More than anything, prayer helps me get my sense of humor back. It brings me back to my heart, from the treacherous swamp of my mind.