- Spend today reflecting on the pattern of prayer in your own life. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. When do you find yourself praying? What are the circumstances or encounters that lead you to prayer? Review your day and note the times and occasions that you spent in prayer.
I resonate with the admonition to "pray without ceasing" because of the frequency of my brief prayer requests, petitions, moments of listening and supplication. I am blessed to experience prayer in so many forms throughout the day. At least once a day, I pray aloud with someone, either in person or on the phone. I share grace with my family at meals. We pray spontaneously when emergency vehicles go by. I pray as I read scripture or prepare for a Bible study or sermon. I pray with a notebook, with a journal, with colored pencils, in nature. How have you experienced prayer this day?
The challenge comes, however, in rooting and grounding ourselves in a prayerful lifestyle. If prayer is communication with God, then for us to pray without stopping is to be in a constant, attentive, intentional conversation with God. And I certainly fall short there. When I'm short with my husband, impatient with my children, panicked about a forgotten responsibility or chugging along relying on my own steam, my conversation with God has been interrupted. Where in your life is your conversation strong? Where does it falter?
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