Sometimes I wonder how to have a praying life. I’m not trying to sound super-spiritual here. It’s just that I believe that I was made by a Maker and I’ve read in His book that He made us to be close to Him. And one way that we become close to Him is just by talking. You know, like you’re close to your husband or your best friend? You talk to them. You talk to them a lot. And you listen. Sometimes I really want to be more that way with God.

I read this today:

I think I know what that means. It means that if I want to be close, if I want to really know someone with that deep kind of knowing, I have to carve out space for them. I need a place where there’s no agenda, no striving to be efficient. None of this multi-tasking and busy hurried noise. Just a quiet private space. If I want to hear a beating heart, I have to tune in.  I can’t get to know God on the fly.

Isn’t that all prayer is? A building of a relationship? Some soul-searching talk here, a bit of light-hearted chatting there? No need to think of it as some duty to prove my love for God. Instead? A quieting of my heart so I can hear Him say it…”I made you, as in I fashioned you together when you were in your mama’s tummy. I thought you up before the dawn of time. I love you.”

I need to hear Him say that. And He wants to hear my voice. This is why I pray. This is why I talk to my Maker, because I was made for this…to know Him.

And I pray because I believe there is a God who listens. A God fully alive. A Creator who made me not to simply exist but to thrive. To flourish. And I’d like to have a flourishing life. 

And how do I have this flourishing life? I pray. And in my chatting to the One who gave me life, I entrust my whole self to Him. This One who shows me the way that I should go if I but ask Him. And when I listen, I can hear it. That beating of His heart. The way He brings me word of His unfailing love. That’s why I pray.