How I’m kickstarting my prayer life
By Jessica Brodie
Like everything else in life, prayer is a habit, and left untended and unprioritized, it can fall by the wayside. And recently, I realized a harsh truth: My prayer life had taken a nosedive.
If you spent a lot of in-person time with me, you’d be surprised, because I’m not shy about public prayer, believe fervently in the power of heartfelt prayer, serve as a prayer warrior at my church, and pray off and on throughout the day. But that’s not the kind of prayer time I mean—I’m talking about those deep solitude moments, when it’s just me and God, existing together. I’m talking about specific, set-aside time in the day when I verbalize my thoughts, concerns, worries, and fears, when I share my hopes and joys, when I turn to Him and lay all the pieces out for Him to gather and miraculously fuse together.
Before the pandemic, my never-fail quiet time had been in the car on my commute to work, but now I work primarily from home, which is both easier and far more efficient for me. As an introvert, I get a ton more writing and editing accomplished while relatively undisturbed by the world at-large. So I shifted my prayer time to my morning walk, when I’d bask in nature and pray throughout my neighborhood.
But then I got COVID, and when I got better it had turned cold, and as the weeks passed, my walking habit fizzled and eventually died off… with my morning prayer time right along with it. And I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even notice at first. After all, I’d already made a self-imposed rule that I wasn’t allowed to do anything on my phone in the morning until I read my chapter in the Bible. Perhaps I figured that was somehow enough. (Psst: It wasn’t.)
I started to feel “off,” the stress started to pile up, tension headaches and migraines began to come and go, and I began to flounder.
Then the other day I realized what was missing from my life, something I should have noticed all along but didn’t. My designated prayer time.
So I’ve started up again, and like any routine in my life, I decided the best way to get back in the habit was to tie it to something I’m already accustomed to doing. For instance, I have to put in my contact lenses every morning, so that’s when I also take my vitamins. I have to eat breakfast, so that’s when I read the Bible. Why not tie my prayer time in with something, too?
Here’s my plan: pray while I stretch. Stretching is good for my body, and it makes me feel centered.
After I stretch, I take a few minutes and write my prayers. See, as a writer I think best on paper, and I sometimes find myself really distracted trying to converse with God in my brain. So I opened up a blank Word document on my computer, typed today’s date, and began. “Dear God. It’s been awhile….”
We all mess up sometimes, whether it’s intentional or not. Sometimes things happen in life that put you in a dark place, and you’re not sure how you got there. The best thing to do is remember you’re human, understand where you went off-course, and make a plan to get back on the right path. You can ask God for help, too—He’ll help make it happen!
I’m certain I’ll eventually get back to morning walks, and perhaps then my prayers will shift back to my walk time. I like praying while walking. I focus better on God and creation, and the movement unleashes all sorts of great, buried thoughts. But for now, this works, and I’m celebrating.
How about you: Do you have a regular prayer habit? Is it tied to another morning routine? Have you ever fallen off-track with a faith practice?