Do you find time in your life for daily prayer? Or is it something that you do when you “need” something from God, Allah, Buddha, or whomever you believe in? Growing up Greek Orthodox and attending a Catholic School, prayer was always something that I was encouraged to do and something that I passed on to my daughter. Every night before bed she says her prayers. The irony of all this is that I taught her a Greek prayer many years ago and she could recite it before she actually knew the meaning behind it. Do you take time out of your day to pray? With the pandemic going on and all of the restrictions around attending church I’ve found that I’m missing that connection. I’m missing being in a place where I don’t need to explain myself because for the most part, everyone enters because they believe. I miss venerating the holy icons and seeing these works of art all around us, listening to our silent prayers.
It is because of this connection that I decided to join a prayer group for the Christmas fast. As Greek Orthodox Christians we fast for 40 days before Christmas. I don’t know how I will do on the food part but I know that I can take a few minutes out of my morning to read the Holy Gospels. This group is 40 people each assigned a gospel reading to start on. We continue down the line until Christmas Eve when we’ll read the last one. Along with that we pray for each person in our group, that God may have mercy on us all. Over the last few months I’ve had multiple conversations with friends about journaling and starting our days with gratitude. While I continue to try and do that, this is something that I can easily wrap my head around right now. Maybe because in the wee hours of the morning when I wake up I don’t need to “think” about a topic or solve my own problems, but rather I can read the word of God and be grateful for the day ahead, which we all know is never promised to us.
So I ask you my friends, what is the importance of prayer in your life? Do you find yourself coming to prayer when needed or have you found a way to blend it into your daily life? Drop me a comment or send me a message, I’d love to hear from you!