Month: June 2022

“In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

These words of Mahatma Gandhi remind us that prayer matters but only when we are genuinely invested in the prayers we say.

As a child I was taught certain well-known prayers—The Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and many others.  In addition to our family saying a prayer together before each meal, my parents reminded us children to always say our prayers before going to sleep each night.  I think teaching children prayers is a natural part of telling them about the Creator and introducing them to religious traditions.

As adults, however, our prayers should reflect a more personal relationship with our Creator.  If that includes continuing to say traditional prayers, then we need to be careful to not just repeat the memorized words, but to focus on what those words express and how they reflect our beliefs and our faith.  This pertains to the prayers we say during church services as well, for it can be easy to fall into a pattern of not thinking about the words that we have said so many times before.

Heartfelt prayer is personal prayer.  It is where we talk to our Creator, sharing our feelings, our concerns, and our struggles, and asking for help.  It is also praying for other people and causes, and it is a time for expressing gratitude for our blessings.  Part of having the gift of faith is accepting that our Creator knows immeasurably more than we do and has a plan for each of us, for we are all unique creations.  And that means that there will be times when what we prayer for will not happen.  This can be hard to accept but acceptance of the Divine will is also part of having faith.  And it is our personal relationship with our Creator that helps us to be accepting.  That personal relationship is also the basis for living a meaningful life.

“God doesn’t require us to succeed; God only requires that you try.”

This is a quote by Mother Teresa.  I often use her words as the basis for posts I write, for she expressed many truths during her earthly journey that I find to be helpful for my journey.  I hope those who read my blog will find her words to be helpful for their journey too.

We all have heard that making mistakes is part of being human and that we can learn from our mistakes.  It’s important to remember too that if we’re afraid that we might make mistakes, we can become stuck and not grow and change in positive ways.

We also frequently hear or read about other people’s accomplishments.  But many times those accounts do not tell about what happened along the way—the stops and starts, the challenges that needed to be dealt with.  Only by being willing to try and to continue to try despite difficulties were they able to accomplish what they did.  They didn’t give up.

That is what we need to do when we are endeavoring to follow our inner direction, the direction given to us by our Creator and by the Self (to use Jungian terminology).  We need to try and to keep on trying despite obstacles that get in our way.  Obstacles come in many forms.  Sometimes people we care about don’t understand our choices and try to talk us out of them or they distance themselves from us, which can be very hurtful.  Another common challenge is our ego’s resistance to making changes, resistance that takes energy to overcome.  And there are many distractions in our modern world that we need to make an effort to avoid.

It is by trying, by making efforts, that we affirm our intention to work toward doing what we believe we are supposed to do.  As Mother Teresa said, it is by trying that we are doing what God requires.