Pray Everyday

Over many years, my own practice of prayer and meditation has changed, evolved, morphed endlessly.  I guess that just makes me human.

These days, I most often sit in silence twenty minutes each morning.  It's meditation time, prayer time, a way of centering my life in God's love before the push and pull of daily responsibilities.

After lighting a couple of candles and ringing a 'singing bell' on my table, I relax into the silence.  I pay attention (letting go of lists, worries, other obligations) to my breath, to the Spirit who moves in me like my breath.

Of late, I find it helpful to have a little mantra, a phrase or two that help me with this.  For me it's this: "Jesus, teach me / peace and mercy."  As I breathe in, I pray silently: "Jesus, teach me."  As I exhale, I pray silently: "Peace and mercy."

Last fall, a friend taught me a little wrinkle that slows the process a bit more.  We breathe in (JESUS, TEACH ME)...then we hold the breath and repeat (JESUS, TEACH ME).  Then we breathe out (PEACE AND MERCY)...and we hold the breath again (PEACE AND MERCY).  It's not meant to be stressful or strenuous, but simply to slow the breathing cycle down a bit...and allow for mindfulness in the transition from inhalation to exhalation, and then from exhalation to inhalation.

I hope you'll give this a try, if it seems helpful.  You can obviously play around with your mantra, with one that works for you.  There are mornings when I need the mantra more than others.  And there are some mornings when I seem to be able to pay loving attention to breath without it.  It's a gift, a tool, a companion...more than a rigid rule for praying!  The point is simply sitting, in silence, with God.  The silence becomes a trusted friend on the journey.

Before ringing the bell to close my prayer time, I recall the names of those I'm holding in special concern (or gratitude) this day.  I try not to rush: I simply whisper or speak a name, then say something simple like, "Lord, have mercy."  When I seem to come full circle I ring the bell and extinguish the candles. 

Like all of you, I go through seasons in my prayer life.  When I'm disciplined about it, when I'm practicing in a daily way, I feel the practice sustaining me throughout the day.  The little mantra is with me in a difficult meeting.  The sense of compassion.  "Jesus, teach me / peace and mercy."