Just Talk to God

 

This summer in Preschool summer choir, we are learning about prayer. Growing up, the kind of prayer I was primarily exposed to was either before meals or at church in the form of long prayers with big words. As a perfectionist, this perception of prayer led me to think that I needed to approach praying in just the right way. It wasn’t until later in my spiritual journey that I began to view prayer as more accessible, an avenue to come to God as I am and talk to Him about anything and everything in my life.

I think when one is asked to pray out loud, it is easy to fall into a certain mindset of making sure we say the right thing in the best way. But when that is the only kind of prayer a child hears, it doesn’t seem as accessible. It feels more like something for adults who know the right way to do things rather than an avenue of connection to God available to anybody.

In summer choir, we are defining prayer as simply “talking to God.” We are talking about talking to God at any time about anything—whether we are happy, sad, angry, or confused. My goal is to make sure the kids in my class know they can go to God whenever, not just before meals or at church. And that they can talk to God about anything, even if it’s not a “nice” emotion.

I am not one to kneel down and pray for extended periods of time. I applaud those who do; it is an admirable practice. My thoughts have a tendency to wander, and there will end up being twenty minutes of thinking about a variety of other things before I remember that I was praying. But that is not to say that prayer is not a part of my life. I talk to God throughout my day about anything and everything going on in my life. I have thanked Him, questioned Him, and poured out my feelings to Him while at work, in my car, and lying in bed.

This is the kind of prayer I think of when I read 1 Thess. 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.” It does not mean we need to always be on our knees. It means to have an ongoing conversation with God throughout our everydays. We can get so caught up in our lives that we forget to let God be a part of it. We can get so focused on praying “the right way” that we either over-focus or ignore doing it. My encouragement to you today is that praying to God can happen at the grocery store or driving to work, when you’re excited about how life is going and when you’re mad at God.

Just talk to God.

    --Concetta Swann