There may not be a God but prayer changes you
On Friday I posted on Facebook,
Curiously nowhere in the Good Book does it say, “Close your eyes when you pray” yet most of us instinctively do. Partaking in perhaps the oldest human act reverencing what lies beyond ourselves.
Amongst the replies was one from an old school friend Garvin, he wrote,
“Praying, to me, is the most self-centred thing you can do, praying has never, in the history of mankind, ever made a single thing happen. This is fact. It does however make the person doing the praying feel much better and therefore if it makes you feel good about yourself then go for it!”
I learn by engaging with others so I welcome Garvin’s comment as he causes me to ponder more deeply what could be in origin a rather simple statement.
As I was sitting in silence this morning ( which is a form of praying) his words came back to me and with them a few scenes from childhood. I want to share them with you.
I was very attached to dogs as a child, there was always a dog around. When I was about 9 years old my dog ‘Toby’ got nicked (stolen). I was pretty distraught. My mother had taught me the practice of kneeling at my bedside and praying the, 'Our Father' so each night before getting into bed I would pray it and then add in a few more requests. When I lost Toby I prayed that I would find him. I didn’t but I remember praying. The reason I remember was that as I prayed I cried my heart out. Prayer gave me as a ‘wee lad’ a way to deal with the hard knocks of life. I believed there was a Father listening and I spoke in my prayer as if he was.
At the same age 9, I decided I would follow Jesus. I was at the Salvation Army Sunday school and they led me through a prayer that I have never forgotten,
“Come into my heart Lord Jesus, come into my heart today, come into my heart Lord Jesus come into my heart to stay.”
That day I believed he came in and that prayer changed how I behaved. Two years later I heard that there was a second stage and I could come into the Holy Spirit. So rather than me inviting Jesus in now I was being invited into God. That was a very powerful experience which I also remember for a cried so much that the wooden floor on which I stood was drenched. I felt loved.
Now I accept that this could have been all a work of the imagination and I allow for the possibility that no God exists but the experience was real so on that count I would say that prayer does make a difference.
There was a short period of my life between the ages of 13 and 17 when I didn’t pray because I was following my own path. It is of note that those years were perhaps the most difficult in my life and when I was least constructive towards others.
So while the boy/teenager is praying, life is better but not so when he stops. And what’s more, it affects others by how he interacts with them. Praying brought with it a sense of accountability to the unseen Father not praying brought his own judgement.
I have been praying again since I was 17 when I realised that I did better with God than without God. Now when I say praying it can be a verbal conversation either spoken or inwardly spoken just as you would speak to another about your concerns. It can also be silent when usually the imagination is taken on an inward journey. It is not a dream for I am not asleep. In these times I am shown a better path to the one I may choose. It may not make sense or seem right but it usually means me humbling myself to a greater way and most surprisingly it usually works better than my plan.
Again I allow for the possibility that God does not exist but something happens when I pray that usually means a better me and that means also better for you.
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For the record: I believe in a personal God ( he is my unseen Father) but I have to allow for the possibility given that he is unseen he could be a figment of my imagination as could all of life
