The half dozen other Friends who shared details of their prayer lives aren’t necessarily that hardcore, but they all incorporate contemplation and the effort to connect with Spirit into their routines to some degree. As Lynette says, “The more that I grow in my knowledge of what God is to me, the more I realize that my life is prayer, that I am in general a prayerful person.”
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Transcript:
Khary
My prayer is basically through meditation now. I think the humility of meditation is me praying. That’s my prayer. Just saying like, God, I ain’t got all the answers. I ain’t got…give me the strength. Let me sit back and listen to you. Keep me humble, keep me…that’s my prayer, you know? And that’s me sitting back and closing my eyes and sitting back like, “let me still my mind.” Because my mind is it’s like a stallion! You know? It could be ridden by train. It is hard the still your mind! Every time you think it was stilling it some thought comes in to your mind. Do you know what I mean? So our mind is really our worst enemy. You heard? It’s the sentry in front of the gate of God. That says like, “you’re not getting past me!”. You heard? (laughing)
Paul
I do pray. I pray before every meal. But usually my prayer is, “Help me.” I mean, that’s it. Sometimes my prayer will be, “Thank you.” And sometimes my prayer will be, “Okay, what do you want from me?” But usually it’s just “Help me.” I have on very, very, very rare occasions, felt that I actually heard words. But, without words, I do feel I’m being given answers.
Henry
My wife and I do devotions every morning at 7:00. It’s the best thing. We’ve been doing it for probably seven or eight years. It’s probably been one of the best things for our marriage because we center. And we know that’s the time when we can talk and…Prayer has become increasingly important to me, probably the older I’ve gotten. It’s a way for me to center on what I think is important. I don’t see prayer is something that I get answers. But more I get the questions. And it helps me understand, “Am I my asking the right questions?” If we really focus on the question, it’s much easier to separate and say, “What is the answer separate from what’s good for me.”
Lucy
I attend, as much as I can, Pendle Hill Worship in the morning. And this morning, there was somebody who sang “Everything is Sacred”. Got his guitar out and sang. And the prayer, it’s probably not in a Christian vein. It is holding in the light. I love that as a translation of prayer.
Pamela
I pray in my own way. I take a walk every morning and I hold an intention and I hold my heart open. And I think that’s probably the same thing as prayer.
Lynette
In addition to being a Quaker, I’m also a vowed consecrated woman. Just in case anyone doesn’t know what that is, I’ve taken the traditional evangelical vows that a sister would take. A nun. And I was accepted into a largely Catholic community as a Quaker. I’m, to my knowledge, the only Quaker sister in our community. So prayer is my life. Formalize prayer I do multiple times a day in community with my sisters or with brothers from other communities. We partake in things like daily office.
Adam
In terms of whether, you know, I recite a set text or something…no. But, in some ways, I think being a Quaker one is trying to be always in a sort of prayerful approach to life.
Lucy
I also think of my life as a prayer. Like, how do I step through my days understanding that how I walk is a way to praise God, and be in relationship with God, and invite transformation that God is helping, is trying to bring into being. I wrote a prayer called “Prayer for the Coming of the Light”, which is about worship, and talk about how we are to midwife the spiritual birth. And I think prayer is one way to do that. And I think that how we walk in the world is a way to live those prayers
Lynette
Life itself is prayer. Sometimes it’s not about just formalize words, but journaling is prayerful. Walking and thinking theological questions is a form of prayer. Eating can be a form of prayer. The more that I grow in my knowledge of what God is to me, the more I realize that my life is prayer. That I am, in general, a powerful person.
Discussion Question:
- How do you incorporate prayer into your life?
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.