WHATEVER!

We know, as Christians, we are to pray.  But many don't.  Those who do, may be erratic about it. Why is it so hard to pray?

Maybe we make it more complicated than it truly is.  Prayer is quite simple.  We make it difficult imposing postures, steps, patterns and methods on how to pray, when and where. Just climb into your Father's lap and say, "Papa."  That's prayer.

Recently a friend was facing a tough time and said, "I can't pray right now.  There are no words."

I still have this mug to remind me of the simplicity of prayer.

I immediately remembered feeling much the same.  That valley may be where I learned a profound lesson about prayer. My tears He kept in a bottle.  My groanings were interpreted for me by the Holy Spirit. One word utterances of, "Whatever" were my ultimate sacrifice of praise. Not in a sarcastic way, but I prayed "whatever" to His plan, not mine. I reminded my friend of that.

No guilt. No formulas. No cleverly crafted phrases. No studies on prayer. Just honesty, raw honest to God utterances. He hears and understands our thoughts, even without words.

Jesus praised the 7 word prayer of the sinner, "God, be merciful to me a sinner" over the publican's 34 word prayer.