I usually wake up about 6:30. Part of my morning practice is to meditate for about 15 to 20 minutes and then I recite my own personal prayer. It has been my experience that the entirely of humanity all seem to pray about the same things. Prosperity. Money to support their lives. Good health for themselves, for their children and family.  A job that provides the income they need and maybe some sense of personal satisfaction. A relationship that provides companionship and is emotionally nurturing. I might also add community which includes a connection to friends and family. Praying to relieve whatever suffering one might feel. The final thing I would add is it that a fair number of people also pray for forgiveness or redemption. I think that these needs are fundamental to most of the people that inhabit this planet. That’s why most people ask for these very human needs when they pray.

From my experience there are two basic ways to pray. The first is to ask “God” for what you want. More money. A better job. Health. A boyfriend or girlfriend. Something that is very specific and tangible. Praying for something specific leaves me with a feeling of expectation. It feels limiting. It constrains the very possibility of the process of creation itself. A process that does tend to run on human time. It is a prayer based on some deliverable in the future, which might or might not happen.

The second way to pray is to focus on the greater possibility of life. Your life. To be open to the mystery of life itself and how that mystery manifests itself in your own personal life. I pray to acknowledge and celebrate the gift of my life as it is in the present moment. I try not to project my needs into some future moment. That is only a setup for disappointment. Whatever the mystery of life is, it can only create in the present moment.  I would rather offer a prayer of possibility. It feels unconstrained. Leaving room for the unseen and unknowable to manifest.

This is my prayer. “God I am here, present to unfolding of my life. I give thanks for your illumination and grace. I welcome and allow that illumination to ignite my unique expression. It is through that ignition that my life is created. Love, community, relationship, clarity of my being, personal growth, prosperity, abundance, wealth. Direction and purpose. I am open and available to my own embodied enlightenment.”

This prayer aligns itself with the process of creation and allows that process to manifest in my life unencumbered. There is no expectation as to how that process will unfold. In a future blog entry I will share the impact that my prayer has had on my life.

There is a lot more to talk about. The gift of Grace. Praying when faced with what might seem insurmountable circumstances. What is a person’s unique expression and the importance of in being receptive to what I called God’s illumination? What is the intersection between your unique expression and that illumination? I am sure there are more than 2 ways to pray. There is certainly a lot more to blog about.