Prayer for the Elusive

In my experience as a Christian I find prayer to be somewhat elusive. It’s a weird thing praying to a God you can’t see or touch. Isn’t it? If I’m being honest, sometimes I used to even feel a little bit silly trying to pray. Wondering what to say; wondering what to do; wondering if it was okay to open my eyes or if I should kneel or stand or sit… none of it felt natural. When I was a kid my family went to an Episcopal church where they told you what to pray, when to pray it, when to stand and when to kneel. It made prayer feel less awkward and perhaps sometimes even more reverent, but I remember feeling disconnected from the prayers because they weren’t my own. Fast forward a few decades and I’ve come a long way in my experience with prayer. The main thing that has changed for me is that now I just do it. The act of doing it has changed me. When I started this blog 13 yrs ago it was because I wanted to pray for the city which felt even more strange than just normal prayer. However, writing out prayers for the city and sharing them forced me to think beyond my own needs or the needs of my intimate family and friends. I realized that as I did that and as I started to pray for people who I didn’t know and situations I couldn’t control then my perspective changed. I started to look for opportunities to pray. For example, where previously I would drive by a panhandler without giving them much notice I started to ask their names and if I could pray for them or even with them. One of the those times I met a guy named Alex. When I asked to pray for him he told me his girlfriend was pregnant and he didn’t have any work and we prayed about that. I had feeling (a spiritual prompting) that I should offer to buy them groceries so I met him and his girlfriend later at the store and we went shopping. They eventually became friends. Our Bible study group and some church friends even had a baby shower and helped with the baby until a family member was able to step in and provide proper care for her. I helped him find work and we stayed connected for a couple of years until their addictions took them again and we lost touch. I believe that baby is living a different life now than she would have. I hope that Alex and his girlfriend are off drugs but regardless I’m glad that at least they know there are people who love them and care for them. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped to pray with him that day, but I think it made a positive impact. It is certainly one of the many times prayer changed me and informed my actions. The phrase Thoughts and Prayers has largely become a meaningless throwaway sentiment that people use when they don’t know what else to say. If people would actually pray when they promise to then I believe it will change their thoughts and transform their minds. So my prayer for you in the midst of this pandemic is that you would actually seize the opportunity to pray for other people even it feels awkward. It’s safe to assume that we all need prayers so why not pray for someone you don’t know and see how it changes you.