Praying on the Go

We do all kinds of praying.  Some of our prayers are long and wordy.  They must surely wear out the ears of God.  Others are so short, they likely do not even get God's attention.  And, of course, there are those prayers that are structured in ritual like fashion.  They may even require printed words to pray.  Of course, sometimes we pray on the go.  I was reminded of this today as I was walking to our parked car out in the middle of a parking area.  As I walked I heard short sentence prayers being uttered from my mouth and lifted toward heaven. 

 

In the midst of that brief moment, I found myself suddenly aware of divine presence  There was nothing about my surroundings which would have suggested I was about to enter into a holy moment, but such is how the spontaneous prayer was experienced.  As brief as the words were, they brought me into a time of holy presence as surely as if I had been praying for hours.  And while I have never been a big fan of prayers on the go because they can become a substitute for intentional devoted time with God, they can still be moments of unexpected grace.

 

Of course, there is nothing sacred about long and wordy prayers.  The length of the prayers prayed does not mean they are more likely to be heard by God.  The prayers most likely to be heard as effective praying are those which come from the heart.  Prayers of desperation such as one of the thieves on the cross offered come to mind.  And, as we read the narrative of Jesus, we keep running into prayers that are no longer than "Lord, have mercy."   Maybe part of praying without ceasing includes those prayers we pray in the prayer closet as well as those prayers on the go.