Teach Us to Pray
“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.’”
Luke 11:1a, NIV
As I reflect on my prayer life, I have very special memories of my nighttime routine as a child when I learned to pray. Even now, over seventy years later, I still pray the prayers my mom and my grandmother taught me (The Lord’s Prayer, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and Lord Keep Us Safe This Night). Each night after these three prayers from my childhood, Pat and I always share a thank-you list of the blessings in our lives, and the list of friends and loved ones in need of help or healing. As the years have passed, I have realized how incredibly blessed I have been in my life’s journey by the gift given to me when my mother and “momma Jewel” taught me to pray. My daily prayer time is that sacred connection I have to the One who knows me the best and loves me the most.
These days (and nights) as I pray, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our increasingly complex, often conflicted world, I have found the freedom to be still in His presence. It is a time to listen and to simply rest in His presence. For me, it is a holy moment of “the peace that passeth all understanding.” Philippians 4:7 KJV
And so, I invite you to “FaceTime with God today” and have a Holy moment with Him as you read and pray Psalm 121, RSV:
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.
Then, offer a prayer today for those who taught you to pray.
