There are many different ways to pray. In many beauty pageant movies, you will hear the line “I pray for World Peace,” and no one delivered it better than a sincere Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. After the world’s experience with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, everyone should pray for “World Peace.”
Prayer is one of the most intimate ways we can connect to God. In prayer, we share our feelings, our thoughts, our deepest concerns and fears, and what we are most grateful for in life. One fascinating feature of prayer is that it is unique between every person and God. No one prays quite the same. Each of us may find ourselves praying in a different way depending on the situation, the need, or what we have to say to God.
What religions have prayer? Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Wiccan. I am certainly not an expert in religion, but one thing I believe in is to respect every religion. I believe this is an important way of demonstrating to God who we are.
Growing up Catholic, I know all the standard prayers like Our Father, Hail Mary, and The Lord Is My Shepherd. When I am in church, I silently repeat the prayers said with the congregation.
In addition to prayer, I talk to God. For years I have always shared my thoughts both good and bad with God and ask him to please listen to me. I find having conversations with God to be helpful to my heart. I usually talk to him about my family and all that I want for each and every one of them. High on my list is good health, safety, and things I would like them to experience in life. I also talk to him when friends are going through troubling or sad times. It is very satisfying to be able to tell God your thoughts.
In the past few years, my talks with God have been different. I have repeatedly asked him to make me a better person and to let me make a difference in people’s lives. I am working every day to try to make a difference in small ways that achieve this. It can be something as simple as asking someone to share a meal, making a donation to a charitable cause, using our communication skills to help create awareness that promotes a good cause, showing acts of kindness, and the list of small experience I try to do goes on and on but I don’t want to bore you.
I realize as time goes by how precious time really is and how it goes by so quickly. So, I am planning my New Year’s goals early for next year and one of my top priorities is to make the most of each day with the people I love and care about.
Let’s pray 2025 will be a better year for everyone.
