"Good, deep and sustained relationships take speaking and listening, they take depth of conversation and involvement in all parts of our lives, the big and the small. That's what prayer is."
When I first became a Christian as a young teenager, I prayed the way my nanna taught me. Each night, closing my eyes and presenting my requests to God. Each week around the communion table I would confess my sins and ask forgiveness- saving up the entire weeks worth for that Sunday morning.
Then, many years later, as a young mum, someone lent me a book by a man named Brother Lawrence called 'Practising the Presence of God', that totally changed my life. It talked about talking with God all the time. About everything. Just chatting through the day with Him as I would a friend. It was the beginning of opening my eyes to how much God not only loved me but wanted to be involved in every part of my life, to be in a relationship with me.
See, if the only conversations I had with my husband were deep and meaningful ones All. The. Time it could become overwhelming. If all I did was chitter chat with him through the day, it would have the potential to become shallow. If all I ever did was all the talking and never listened, it would be very one sided. Good, deep and sustained relationships take speaking and listening, they take depth of conversation and involvement in all parts of our lives, the big and the small. That's what prayer is.
It is not us talking at God. It is an ongoing conversation with Him. It is requests, it is confession, it is thanksgiving and praise, but it is so, so much more. It is what builds our relationship with a God who knows us, who created us and who loves us more than anything and desperately wants to be involved in our lives, who wants a relationship with us. Who wouldn't want to enter into that?
"Make your life a prayer. And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thes 5:17-18)
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