Prayer

Prayer: talking to God...
Seems like a daunting task.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, (or any of the other 12-Step Programs), one of the things your are told to do is to have a prayer life... to begin to speak to your "Higher Power".
Folks who have never prayed before find it a struggle because they aren't aware of the nature of God and the freedom of The Spirit.
One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. He wrote a book called, "The Ragamuffin Gospel". It is on my list of top-ten books that I recommend for people to read. Brennan's main emphasis is on the grace of God.
In this blog I would like to tempt you (in a good way) by giving you a taste of his writing.... in this instance, on the subject of prayer...

"Let us suppose you give your three-year-old daughter a coloring book and a box of crayons for her birthday. The following day, with the proud smile only a little one can muster, she presents her first pictures for inspection. She has colored the sun black, the grass purple, and the sky green. In the lower right-hand corner she has added woozy wonders of floating slabs and hovering rings: on the left, a panoply of colorful, carefree squiggles. You marvel at her bold strokes and intuit that her psyche is railing against its own cosmic puniness in the face of a big, ugly world. Later at the office, you share with your staff your daughter's first artistic effort and you make veiled references to the early work of Van Gogh.
A little child cannot do a bad coloring: nor can a child of God do a bad prayer. A father is delighted when his little one, leaving off her toys and friends, runs to him and climbs into his arms. As he holds his little one close to him, he cares little whether the child is looking around, her attention flitting from one things to another, or just settling down to sleep. Essentially the child is choosing to be with her father, confident of the love, the care, the security that is hers in those arms.
Our prayer is much like that. We settle down in our Father's arms, in His loving hands. Our mind, our thoughts, our imagination may flit about here and there; we might even fall asleep; but essentially we are choosing for this time to remain intimately with our Father, giving ourselves to Him, receiving His love and care, letting Him enjoy us as He will. It is very simple prayer. It is very childlike prayer. It is prayer that opens us up to all the delights of the kingdom."

----Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Sometimes I really struggle with prayer. Sometimes I'm ambivalent about praying. Sometimes I take prayer for granted.
Sometimes my best prayers have simply started by saying, "God, I don't feel like talking to You today".... or, "God, I'm in a bad mood, so if I'm going to pray about it You really have to help me."

Prayer: Think of it as a conversation. A conversation where the other party (God) already knows your struggles and your frailness and even your often inability to express exactly what you are feeling, exactly what you're trying to say.
How often in my own life have I started out a prayer by simply saying, "God,...I really messed things up this time....."
And then I just start talking.....
Perhaps, to God, It's like I'm painting a picture with my words. Like the little child in Brennan's story,... painting the sun green, the flowers are black and pink and my rendition of the ocean is at the top of the page rather than at the bottom.
It doesn't matter to Him... just as long as I'm sharing my painting with Him. Maybe He'll tack it up in His Heavenly office and show it to the angels....saying something like, "Look what my kid did!..... Isn't it great!"........
And the angels will say in return, "Yeah...it looks like a real Picasso....all kinds of crazy... but really valuable!".....:-)