Prayer

Prayer, prayer, and again prayer. There cannot be too much prayer in the life of a Christian who freely uses his entire life and being to serve God. Prayers, those guardians of hope, are vulnerable, beautiful; yet capable of inspiring fortitude. Our prayers never age, never suffer. People age, people suffer. Each day of our lives we get older. Each day of our lives we experience setbacks of varying degrees. Each day we experience a little sadness in our own individual lives or in the lives of those around us.

I often fumble for silence and guidance as I pray and try to move toward God.

Before my conversion there was a lack of humility and a lack of reverence. Obedience to God was not considered by me. I had accepted the secular idea of individualism. Independence and self-reliance are great ideals but the reality of modern life for most of us often contains overlapping and conflicting interdependences and compromises. I had to learn how to navigate through this.

Christians are part of a larger group; being Christian admits us to a community that believes and worships God; being Christian reminds us of the importance and necessity of universal love and social justice; our concern, our prayers should be directed outward beyond ourselves to the world at large; we must want the same basic rights for everyone. Everyone deserves food, water, shelter, peace.

The doctrine of self-sufficiency and independence can easily lead a person away from their faith and love of God; sometimes this doctrine can encourage violence and pain. I sometimes forgot that each human being deserved food, water, shelter, health care, peace. American society likes to promote the idea of the loner, someone outside of society who rides into town and stirs things up. Sometimes this is for the good of the community, others it is not. The loner often arrives by himself, and often leaves by himself.

All Christians, we know, that we are never alone; God is always with us.