Meditation

May I suggest a simple summer project - I think it's a good one.

I think we ought to start praying every day. Too many of us sort of lose our habit of praying regularly as we grow older. It's not that we have decided prayer is no good, mind you, it's just that we get so busy, we get out of the habit of prayer.

And we lose out - we lose out on staying in touch with God. We lose out in recognizing that God is always with us. We lose out on being able to tell God things explicitly and to be thankful for God's amazing care. We lose out on making an actual act that signifies our commitment to our faith.

What's more, daily prayer takes a whole lot less planning than do most summer projects. We just need to plan time for daily prayer - time slots that actually work, rather being too complicated to handle easily. Folks who work out at gyms regularly know exactly how to do this, but some others may need something a trifle more flexible, sort of like "between morning shower and breakfast."

In fact, it might be easier to try two time-slots a day, at morning, and again at day's end. Come to think of it, reaching out to God in prayer that way makes great bookends for the day by making our prayers more balanced and more woven into the fabric of our lives.

Regardless, take time for deliberately entering into prayer. That's like mentally stepping back from worldly concerns and thinking about how you are entering the presence of God. It's easier if you are able to seek out some quiet place - closing your eyes will probably be a help, too.

Early morning is a special time for prayers to thank God for care through the night and ask God's blessing and guidance through the day ahead. Evening prayer is important too, as we pray, "Now I lay me down to sleep..."

We shouldn't hesitate to mix prayer in our own words with prayers from other sources. The Lord's Prayer is a gift to us from our Lord himself and thus is a great way to start. Many also find prayer books and daily devotional guides to be particularly helpful. Others find praying in hymns and songs offer rich blessings, too.

Finally praying regularly - even if only for a few moments morning and evening - marks part of the permission we ought to grant ourselves to follow our Lord's wonderful invitation to "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile."

- Fr. Bob Dietel

St. Aidan Episcopal Church

Camano Island