To pray means to open your hands before
God. It means slowly relaxing the
tension that squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an
increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend, but as a gift to
receive. Above all, prayer is a way of
life that allows you to find stillness in the midst of the world where you open
your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor, and
your world. In prayer, you encounter God
not only in the small voice and the soft breeze, but also in the midst of the
turmoil of the world, in the distress and joy of your neighbor, and in the
loneliness of your own heart.
Prayer leads you to see new paths and to
hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is
the breath of your life that gives you freedom to go and to stay where you
wish, to find the many signs that point out the way to a new land. Praying is not simply some necessary
compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in time
of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday mornings or mealtimes. Praying is living. It is eating and drinking, acting and
resting, teaching and learning, playing and working. Praying pervades every aspect of our
lives. It is the unceasing recognition
that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and to celebrate
the divine gift of being alive.
In the end, a life of prayer is a life with
open hands – a life where we need not be ashamed of our weaknesses but realize
that it is more perfect for us to be led by the Other than to try to hold
everything in our own hands.
--Henri Nouwen
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