Let Me Pray

Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you must ask to attend to them. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

The words “Let us pray” are more familiar,
more comfortable…at least to me…than “Let me pray.”
The prayers that spring forth when I speak to God aloud
come naturally, from the heart and soul. But meditation?
A time to sit down and pray because the clock says to?
I find myself repeating the standards…then will lapse into
a recitation of the members of my family, of my friends,
of those who depend on me, each preceded by “bless.”
And what about “Bless me”? That’s not so comfortable.
I’ll stick in, “your will not mine be done.” And gratitudes,
a presenting to God of the obligations on my plate for the day…
but not for results, not for … Hey, edit this prayer, this poem.
I do, too. Pray for results. They’re only ones I expect
would be acceptable to him, but after “your will be done.”
Practice is the key to everything. I can analyze it all the time
but to learn how to pray, perhaps the first prayer should be…
“Let me pray.”

thankful