PRAYING HONESTLY

I know for a fact that it is easy to glide over into religious postures that make me feel good, holy and right. I also know it is phony-baloney. Prayer is a good example.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) wrote in ‘Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer:’

“We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

This is perhaps the wisest counsel ever for me on prayer. We just don’t get over in the weeds… over in the ditch…over in the mud… about it. We get honest about it. We pray, as we are now, not how we ought to be. Not how we want to be. As we are.

We then learn what Rumi (1207-1273) wrote: “Giving thanks for abundance is sweeter than the abundance itself.” That also takes some time to learn… a lot of time.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’” Jesus