A few of us are reading and thinking about prayer right now. We are reading together a book by Philip Yancey and discussing the book on this blog site. Consider this my invitation for you to join in the reading and discussion.
So I was thinking the other night (I know a dangerous thing) about the frequency in which I speak to my parents.
When I lived with my parents I spoke to them everyday. There may have been a day or two when I was mad at my parents but even then I SPOKE to them. When I went off to college and began to establish my own identity and independence I no longer talked with my parents everyday.
Now as an adult, a husband and a father, days will go by without me speaking to my parents. The thing is even though I am now an adult and a husband and a father, I never stopped being their son. I’m not sure of all the reasons why this happened. It’s not something that happened intentionally or that occurred out of any severe feelings of resentment or ill will.
On a special event I’ll call.
When something good happens I’ll call.
When something bad happens I’ll call.
But the everyday, ordinary stuff of life conversations are not so frequent and can hardly be described as regular. They happen when we are together again. I know there are some legitimate reasons for this. The relationship between husband and wife for example is strengthened by the diet of constant, everyday, ordinary stuff of life conversations.
What made me think about this dynamic are my own children (of course) and how much I enjoy hearing from them every detail of their life. I thought about how much I would miss that if they were gone. I thought about how much I would miss this when they begin to establish a life of their own. Then I thought about God and my relationship with him and the obvious similarities.
On a special event I’ll pray.
When something good happens I’ll pray.
When something bad happens I’ll definitely pray – even if I haven’t prayed about anything else.
But what about the everyday, ordinary stuff of life conversations?
The more time I spend in his presence the more natural it seems to share in this conversation. The subject or content of our prayer life seems to be determined by the amount of time we spend with God, our Father. The “farther” we are away the less we talk about. The “closer” we are the more we talk about.
What I pray about, how I pray and when I pray are all evidences of my relationship with God.
