What is prayer?

Prayer is NOT "expecting things from God" or "asking God to do things" that we should do ourselves, as so many seem to think.  If prayer is the orientation of our whole body, mind, and spirit leaning toward God-ness in silent attention, as Merton says, then it's also these things:

• Prayer can be a feeling, a thought, or even a vibration, like giving a child a tight hug and saying, "Mmmm-uhmmmmm!"
• Have you ever cooed "Oooooooh" as you hugged a baby to your chest?  It follows that when you hug anyone, that's a prayer.
• When you forgive someone, that's a prayer.
• When you help someone in need by giving your time or energy or money, that's a prayer.
• When you cook something to nourish family and friends, that's a prayer.
• When you say "drive safely" as someone leaves, that's a prayer.

In the 1970s, I had a poster that said something like, "Your whole life can be a prayer, if only you make it so."  Let's make it so.  You won't have to "find time to pray" because prayer will be your whole life.

I've written about prayer before, if you are interested:

• How "they" begin
• Prayer of silence (or not)
• To sew is to pray (Prayer can be sewing, as you can see from a quote in the middle of this post beside this photo)

Welcome to the RevGals who drop by to read this blog post.   I'll link back so my readers can read other "Under the Surface" posts, too.