More on Prayer....

And today...carrying over last night's activities...still cruising the internet....reading, writing, pondering.  It is overcast today, rainy...with rain predicted throughout the day.  Good excuse to spend a large chunk of the day reading, writing, pondering and cruising the internet.  Keith does not seem to object to the plan.  I am sure we will venture out to Denny's later for lunch/dinner but for the most part I rather enjoy the view from my resting place here on the couch. 

We've been hitting Denny's a lot lately because of the steady stream of coupons that we keep finding in the paper and in our mailbox.  BOGO's abound.  Gotta' love BOGO's.  If the point of coupons is to lure more customers into their restaurants, well, it has definitely worked with us.  Our visits to Denny's have increased exponentially. The more coupons we get, the more visits we make.  And they have THE best pancakes...

But.....I digress!!  :-)

In my internet meanderings this morning, I came upon a book on Google Books called Poor Old God, He Always Gets the Blame By Arlene Claire Cartwright. The author talks about the way many of us pray:

We have been led to build barriers between God and ourselves.  Most never pray or yearn to see God because they've been told that that's impossible.  So, instead, when they pray, they ask God for what they need and thank Him for what they have.  Although many of us were taught as children that prayer is a lifting up of our minds and hearts to God, whenever groups get together to pray, the talking usually starts almost immediately--please, please, please; thank you, thank you, thank you.

No wonder why many never experience contemplative prayer or see God.  God is never given a chance to say a word or to reveal His magnificence. 

No wonder so many keep asking God to take good care of them and their families.  God is never given a chance to reveal that He cares for more than we do.

God cannot seem to get a word in edgewise.  As Neale Walsh says in one of his Conversations With God books:

God is speaking to everyone all the time. The question is not to whom does God talk, but who listens. This is clarified by the statement that God can communicate with you in the next song you hear, the next breeze that caresses your ear, the next conversation you overhear. "All these devices are mine. All these avenues are open to me. I will speak to you if you invite me."