Catholic Dads

Prayer.

It seems like such an easy concept. Yet, oftentimes, in reality it is so hard to do. It’s hard to find the time to pray. And when we do find the time to pray, it is often hard to focus without getting distracted. And what is prayer, really? Prayer is a relationship, and we are all in relationships of one sort or another. Whether that relationship is with a best friend, a spouse, a co-worker, a classmate, a teacher, or a boss, we are all in relationships. Prayer is a relationship with God the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Imagine that I am your best friend. Now imagine that whenever we talk, all I do is ask you for something. I ask you to buy me lunch. I ask to borrow a pen. I ask you to help me on a project that I’m working on. I ask to borrow your cell phone. I ask you for  money. How would you feel if every time we talked all I did was ask you for something, if all I did was ask you to help me? How long would that relationship last? My guess is that that relationship wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks.

This is how we often approach prayer. All we do is ask God for help. All we do is ask Him to give us something or to do something for us. Yes, God is there to answer our prayers and to help us with our struggles. But this approach to prayer misses the point. God wants more from us than just a laundry list of thing we want Him to do for us. He wants us to enter into a relationship with Him.

Think about your best friend, about the person you have the closest relationship with. What makes that person your best friend? What makes that relationship so close? I know that the relationship with my best friend, my wife, is so close because we communicate. That communication goes beyond “Can you pass the salt?” when at the dinner table. That communication is deeper than asking my wife if I have clean underwear or if there is gas in the mini-van. We share everything with each other. We voice our hurts, our joys, our triumphs, our struggles. We bare our souls to each other.

Now think about the time commitment required of the relationships in your life. How would your spouse feel if you never spent time with her? What would the relationship be with your children if you never interacted with them? Relationships require a commitment of time. Without that, they will inevitably fail. If we don’t spend time nurturing our relationship with God, it will fail.

This is what our relationship with God is meant to be. This is what prayer is all about. God desires us to share our souls with Him, to voice our pain, our struggles. He wants to laugh with us in the joyful moments in our lives. He wants to cry with us in our pain. He wants to be our best friend. Next time you pray, don’t ask God, “Can you help me?” Instead, share with Him as you would your best friend. And then ask Him, “What can I do for You? How can I help You?” I guarantee your prayer will be more fruitful if you do. Your laundry list of requests will be completed without even voicing them to Him.

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