Prayer

I recently finished an audio book that was in many ways a modern day prodigal son story (see Luke 15:11-32 ). There were a few interesting passages about prayer that really got me thinking.

"Prayer, you know, you open up your thoughts and then you can get a good look at them. No point trying to hide anything."

"Prayer is a discipline in truthfulness, in honesty."

Those two lines got me thinking about prayer in general and about the current state of my prayers.

I like this idea that prayer is a chance for us to be completely honest. We are talking with someone whom we cannot hide anything from, even if we want to (and even if we try). And it helps to remember that we pray to someone who loves us perfectly despite anything we may want to hide from Him - someone who can, and will, help us through/with anything we bring to Him. Prayer is a chance to get a good look at our thoughts, at our intended actions, at how we feel; a chance to make course corrections with the love and guidance of an all-knowing, perfectly loving Father.

It has been my experience that I can tell the health of my relationship with the Heavenly Father by the diligence and depth of my prayers and scripture study. That made me think about the things that I am, if not trying to hide, at least not bringing to the table in these sacred communications. It made me think about the importance of not simply going through some motions - but really, really taking the time to talk, to think through, to ask for advice. It also made me very glad that gems of truth can be found anywhere is we are only looking for them :)