Effective Prayer
“In your prayers do not babble…”
Matthew 6:7 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Anyone who has spent any time with a toddler has experienced “babbling”: the repetition of the same phrase or request over and over again just for the sake of saying it. It’s not meant to annoy, and usually doesn’t, but it just becomes background noise. We hear it, but that’s about it. It’s not effective communication, even though it feels good to the child.
But then there are the times when the toddler focuses and tries to convey a specific message. It may not be (and usually isn’t) perfectly stated, but it stands in noticeable contrast to the chattering, or anything else going on right then, and gets your attention. That’s true even if it’s something she’s said in the same words many times, like “I love you,” “daddy help me,” or “me want milk.” Those focused communications stand out and get a response, even if they’re in garbled form, precisely becuase of their focused nature.
Our prayers fall into the same pattern. Some are mindlessly repeated without any real attention to what we’re saying. They can take the form of liturgy, song, or even private prayers. On the other hand, there are focused prayers, intended to convey specific, individualized, thoughts that are real communication even if we’ve said the same thing in the same way many times before (as in liturgy, song, or private prayer) or if they're akwardly stated. I wonder if God responds to those two types of prayers in the same way we respond to, on one hand, our children's mindless chatter, on the other, and their focused communication.
Matthew 6:7 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Anyone who has spent any time with a toddler has experienced “babbling”: the repetition of the same phrase or request over and over again just for the sake of saying it. It’s not meant to annoy, and usually doesn’t, but it just becomes background noise. We hear it, but that’s about it. It’s not effective communication, even though it feels good to the child.
But then there are the times when the toddler focuses and tries to convey a specific message. It may not be (and usually isn’t) perfectly stated, but it stands in noticeable contrast to the chattering, or anything else going on right then, and gets your attention. That’s true even if it’s something she’s said in the same words many times, like “I love you,” “daddy help me,” or “me want milk.” Those focused communications stand out and get a response, even if they’re in garbled form, precisely becuase of their focused nature.
Our prayers fall into the same pattern. Some are mindlessly repeated without any real attention to what we’re saying. They can take the form of liturgy, song, or even private prayers. On the other hand, there are focused prayers, intended to convey specific, individualized, thoughts that are real communication even if we’ve said the same thing in the same way many times before (as in liturgy, song, or private prayer) or if they're akwardly stated. I wonder if God responds to those two types of prayers in the same way we respond to, on one hand, our children's mindless chatter, on the other, and their focused communication.
(Other images about prayer were posted at Images from God on September 17, 17.1, 17.2, October 8 and 17, November 13 and 19, 2004 and May 27, 2005.)
posted by anon at 4:30 PM
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