An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

by Barbara Brown Taylor

Prayer, according to Brother David, is waking up to the presence of God no matter where I am or what I am doing. When I am fully alert to whatever or whoever is right in front of me; when I am electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive; when I am able to give myself wholly to the moment I am in, then I am in prayer. Prayer is happening, and it is not necessarily something that I am doing. God is happening, and I am lucky enough to know that I am in The Midst.

So I tell God what I want and I trust God to sort it out.”

What sounds like an answer to one person sounds like silence to another.

Are you still waiting for God to answer you, or is your life the answer you have been seeking, hiding in plain view?

I am willing to thank God for my life even before I know how it turns out.

My hope is that if I can practice saying thank you now, when I still approve of most of what is happening to me, then perhaps that practice will have become habit by the time I do not like much of anything that is happening to me. The plan is to replace approval with gratitude. The plan is to take what is as God’s ongoing answer to me.

The longer I practice prayer, the more I think it is something that is always happening, like a radio wave that carries music through the air whether I tune in to it or not. This is hard to talk about, which is why prayer is a practice and not a discussion topic. The best I can do is to tell you how it works for me.

I think of it as a portal that stays open whether I go through it or not.