Our Ever-Present Refuge & Hiding Place,
we come to you again, today, to worship You
and to seek refuge and to hide from the troubles and worries of life.
O Great God, as we pray this morning,
we are mindful of our need to pray
in order to grow in our relationship with You.
Yet, we have difficulty with our prayer life.
How should we pray?
Is there a book that will tell us how to pray?
How will we know we are saying the right words to You?
How will we know that You, O God, are happy with our prayers?
O Lord, calm us in our anxieties.
Remind us that prayer is a dialogue with you.
Remind us that our prayers are just communicating with You
as we would a beloved friend or a loving parent.
Help us to be so close to you that we are not afraid to say anything to You
just as we are not afraid to say anything to our closest friends –
even if we are mad, sad, confused, or excited – just as the writers of the Psalms often did.
Yet, O Ground of our Being, calm us and slow us down more to remind us that
prayer is dialogue between two parties.
Help us to listen to You, as well.
Remind us that our communication is a two way street.
Lord, You are ALWAYS with us, no matter what.
Help us to see, then, that You are always trying to speak to us.
May we hear You in people that we speak with.
May we hear You in the people that we help.
May we hear You as we read our Bibles and other writings as well.
May we hear You in the music we listen to and the music we sing.
May we hear You in the beauty of nature.
May we hear You in the routine of life.
Help us, O Lord, to take the time to listen.
Help us, O God, to listen with great expectancy
for what You have to say to us.
Amen.