Why is it so hard to pray?
The typical excuses apply. He already knows. Why bother Him? He’s too busy. I’m too busy. But for wounded hearts there’s something more. Our struggle with intimacy also (or maybe especially) applies to our relationships with God. When someone we trust violates our trust we initiate measures to protect ourselves. Accusations take root deep within us. Accusations against other people, against ourselves, against God. Peace dissolves. We prepare for the worst. Our prayers, if we pray at all are cynical lists of demands and complaints. Fodder for a large, impersonal ’suggestion box’ in the sky.
Yet kept alive within our hearts a courageous voice cries out for something more. To share ourselves without fear. To know. To be known. To emerge from the complicated system of devices we’ve invented for the purposes of relating and interacting. To be ourselves and not to be alone.
