Relationship with God

Yesterday my granddaughter and I took a walk over to one of our son and daughter-in-law’s house to drop off something. My daughter-in-law was home by herself, the kids being at their other grandmother’s house.

We had a nice visit, and at the end, we began talking about prayer. My daughter-in-law was brought up a Christian, and she and our son still are very active in their church. I’ve always been so impressed with her ability to pray out loud freely and without reservation. As such, she was always the one to say our prayer before meals, that is, prior to the grandkids learning their before-meal prayer. Now the prayer falls to them.

I mentioned to her that my husband and I were reading Acts for Lent as a way to take baby steps towards praying together. She told me that among their church friends, she is the only one who is entirely comfortable praying out loud.

As a Catholic, I was taught my prayers at an early age, many of which I still say today. I pray the rosary often. We pray before our evening meal. Anytime I’m afraid, I say the Act of Contrition. I am being careful not to dismiss these prayers as unimportant and not meaningful. I read recently that when you say the rosary, you can either concentrate on the words of the prayers you say or meditate on each mystery of the rosary. I know that anytime you pray, no matter what words you say, you are building a relationship with God.

Still, I continue to work on praying with words from my heart. I mentioned before that when I do this, I have to remind myself that the words I choose aren’t what’s important. Just like in a conversation with a friend, it’s more important to just speak from the heart. But, just as in a conversation with a friend, I need to listen to God talking back to me.