The Unceasing Prayer

Some verses of Scripture leave us with a "not really" mindset.  Those verses sound good, but cause us to wonder if it is something realistic in our spiritual lives, or just some pie in the sky.  I Thessalonians 5:17 is one of those verses.  It is not a long verse, only three words long.  It simply says, "...pray without ceasing..."   Perhaps, our experience would say there is nothing simple about it, but instead something which stretches our spirit to consider new spiritual possibilities.     

I remember some years ago reading a small volume written by Frank Laubach who read the verse and made the decision to move toward it in his personal life.  Most of us would not make the effort, but decide as we are reading that it is a word that points us to something which is not really attainable.  We end up figuring it is one of those verses written to keep us pointed in the right direction.  But, then again, maybe such thinking is a cop out.  Maybe it is a way of excusing ourselves from the work of moving in what would be a new direction.    

What seems apparent is that we cannot live twenty four hours a day in a devotional mode.  Praying without ceasing may have more to do with a life style of paying attention to the way God is always making Himself known in the midst of our daily lives.  If prayer is just about talking, then maybe we can never live with this spirit about which Paul is writing.  But, if prayer is about awareness and learning how to be mindful of that holy awareness as we go forward through the day, then it may be that a constant awareness of God's desire to show up and speak will carry us toward a different place in our praying.  We think of prayer too much in terms of what we do and not enough about how it is a means of knowing the presence of God.  Is not being constantly aware that God is present just another way of praying without ceasing?