P for Pray
To pray – we want to…
We get down to is… we try… but we do not feel up to it..
Precisely, perhaps we should not try to be ‘up to it’.
Because to pray is not to present a performance, or to realize a feat.
We must not attempt to… follow the rules and succeed.
It is true that bookshops and libraries often have many rows of books on this topic. 
There are also, of course, many learned spiritual authors and gurus of all kinds who speak at length about this.
We often ask ourselves what to choose and which of them to follow.
It is surprising that Jesus, yes, Jesus himself, has taught us only one prayer.
To his apostles who were asking him how to pray, he simply said (Matthew 6:9-13):
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father’…”
This prayer is well known to us, too much so perhaps… we believe that we should move on to something else!
And yet, everything is there!
One day, a read some guideline on the subject: ‘How to pray’ and, to my surprise, the author was saying:
» attitude, Pray as you can, Pray as you can”!
Surprising and so encouraging!
But praying, is it not this: simply ‘Being with God’?
And being with God as we feel like at any given moment – without fuss, or complication!
Allowing what is deepest within us to surge spontaneously and allowing it to rise towards him.
Not believing that one must be at a precise spot,
taking on a specific attitude,
using prescribed words,
for a definite period of time.
Praying as we can… Praying as we are…
And leaving everything else to him!…
In fact, he has told us clearly (Matthew 6:7-8):
“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans,
for they think they will be heard because of their many words…
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him”.
To this, nothing needs to be added…
“Do not deceive yourselves.