Here is a simple truth: prayer works. And it works always (in all ways). I make a statement like that because in my three decades of being a ‘novice’ pray-er, combined with what I am learning daily about prayer is this:
- Either prayer works on me changing me and my responses; or
- Prayer works in me transforming my heart and my perspective; or
- Prayer works through the events and circumstances for which I am praying sometimes altering them.
But the bottom line about prayer working is that prayer always, always, moves me closer to God and to those around me.
Prayer can turn burdens into blessings and obstacles into opportunities.
Prayer can heal my heart and the heart of another.
Prayer is the name of the constant, ongoing conversation I am having with God.
Prayer opens my eyes to see the holiness of all creation.
Prayer moves my heart from resentment to gratitude.
Prayer leads me to embrace the truth that all that happens to me and within me is the will of my loving God.
Prayers helps me see and taste God in the mundane and the profane as well as the profound and the cursory.
Prayer can move mountains, open doors, lead to the miraculous, soften the hardness, and turn wrestling into nestling.
But for me, today, above all, prayer is the language and movement of love I use to speak to my Holy Beloved.