The power of prayer

At church we are covering a session on the power of prayer and following a spiritual discipline of praying. There were alot of wonderful, thought-provoking thoughts brought out during a sermon that has been causing me to reflect on them...

Do I pray enough? From childhood, from praying every bedtime prayer and before every meal, til now where I pray while I am going somewhere and rarely before food...what changed?

One of the ideas brought out during the sermon was the fact that folks feel awkward doing it or maybe don't feel holy enough to get down on your knees to pray. Maybe some are out of practice or for some it feels too overwhelming. Maybe it is mild fumblings in an attempt to pray or that we do not feel worthy enough to ask our heavenly Father for guidance. That they have to be in the right mindset to pray.

Lots of ideas came flooding towards me while I sat there. I have indeed gotten out of practice. When I do pray, it is either at church or in a quick situation. I speak of the usual: gratitude for the blessings I have been given, guidance for my family and for myself as we live the life He has given us, health, watch out for those in hurtful times, grateful for my friends and all of life's blessings, etc. And in the calm of those moments, I can feel peace.

But is it a time that I physically set aside for prayer? No, definitely not. And this is probably why I enjoy church more and more as I go. A quiet time to reconnect to that inner peace that I envision as a gift from God. But there are times when I do feel all the hub-bub overwhelming even when I sit in a peaceful state of mind. The lists. The things I HAVE to get done. The things I have gone through the passed week. The "traumas" of life. The things I SHOULD be doing but DON'T have TIME.

I have contemplated setting aside a time for meditation and yoga...but as many of you know...I go go GO! There's that "having to be in the right mindset to pray" frame of mind coming through... I find myself in situations where I start something and give it up when the schedule gets to be too much or too overwhelming. Everything gets reshifted...and that is something I do not want to do in this situation...

I love the peace that comes from prayer. I find solace in the solitude. I feel connected...I find that there are mountain tops where I feel closer to God. I have always said that the Buttes of the Badlands at night when you have climbed to the top and lay down and are so close to touching the stars...this is God. The shooting stars, the northern lights...all God. But you can't have that 24/7. Life throws glitches in there and you have short amounts of God. You just have to find those moments where you can reconnect....

Maybe that's the key...finding short amounts of time to reconnect... Getting into a schedule to allow silence, calm, and refocus. It is so hard to find those times... I also find this blog as a chance to reconnect, reflect, and channel my thoughts and so perhaps become closer to peace and prayer?