[2020-1-10]
Talking to my grandkids about prayer, I said:
“Imagine it is recess and you need to tell the teacher something important. But he is sitting and talking to the other teachers, and not paying attention to you.
“But then he begins to pay attention. He turns to you and looks at you, his eyes are focused on you, his whole face is turned your way. He starts listening carefully and taking in everything you say.”
I said, “How does that feel, inside your body? Don’t you feel a ‘click’ in your chest, or your heart? Doesn’t it feel like everything inside you is getting lined up and working the way it should?
“And doesn’t it also feel comforting, reassuring, and deeply satisfying? Doesn’t your body relax?“Then you fall right into ready communication with him, and you say everything that you need to say. And he keeps on listening to you, taking it in, looking at you steadily the whole time.”
Prayer isn’t always like that, for me, but at least I know what it *can* be like, and what I should be aiming for.
I think that the turning point here is how one makes the "teacher" to pay attention
Very good comparison with a teacher. You involuntarily begin to think – what is prayer for each of us? For me, prayer is a way of life. I don’t start or end my day without prayer. My parents, both born in 1949 and now in good health, created a family where there was no discord. And the question of faith, or rather, to believe in God or not, we did not have. And for me this question was not raised.