Each of us will find different things that help us connect in prayer. Prayer is, after all, an encounter with God. Depending on our circumstances and personalities, we may find different ways of praying helpful at different times. If we think about prayer as being more than ordinarily open to God, we need to notice what helps me to be more than
ordinarily available to God. There are many wonderful ways of praying, like the imaginative prayer with scripture, praying the rosary and saying the office of the church. But others may not be as familiar.
Not everyone finds sitting down to pray helpful, and sometimes movement makes praying easier. One person I know prays each day as she swims lengths of the local swimming pool, praying for one person or situation for each length of the swimming pool. Another finds that his regular run is where he can switch off from everyday concerns, clear his head and bring himself into a conversation with
God.
Creation may be a place where God speaks especially powerfully to us—watching a sunrise or a sunset, listening to the sound of the rain, or watching the waves rippling over the sand. Something about that beauty can connect us to God as the one who creates it.
It can be helpful sometimes to take a “prayer walk.” Going for a walk and taking some time to focus on each sense. What can I see? Hear? Smell, Feel, maybe even taste. I am letting God show me something through what I notice on my prayer walk and talking with God about it.
Sometimes the creative act of making something ourselves can be prayer too. A woman I know crochets the most exquisite blankets for her godchildren in which each row holds a prayer for them. Even cooking a special meal can become a time of prayer.
Some people find it helpful to keep a journal and write in it to pray. You may feel drawn to write a dialogue with God using one coloured pen for yourself and another for the response you sense from God. Or to write a letter to God at the end of each day.
At the end of each day, another way of praying is to look with God or Jesus at the day that has passed. To notice what has been most life-giving. What do I feel most grateful for and want to give thanks for? What was most life-draining, or where did I sense myself resisting God’s nudges. And to ask God’s healing and forgiveness? Lastly, ask for the grace or gift I may need to meet the next day’s
challenges.
I invite you to try a new way of praying that you think you may find helpful.
