Different approaches to prayer

When we pray, what should we say?
What are the proper words?
What are the appropriate topics?

Let me suggest that one way to think about praying is to think of it like you were writing in a journal. Like a journal, prayer is something that no one will ever hear or see, and you can talk about just whatever is on your mind, without regard for grammar, punctuation, or even making sense.

Let me suggest that a second way to think about praying is to be silent. Imagine that prayer is a conversation in which you talk only part of the time, and spend the other parts listening. Like a conversation between people who are close, there may even be times when neither you or God is speaking, times when you are both just glad to be in each other’s presence.

Let me suggest that a third way to think about praying is to find prayer in the words you read or in music you make or hear. God may be speaking through these as much as in silence. Some of the words I listen to are those of the poet Mary Oliver, who wrote this about “praying” in her book titled Thirst.

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.