Thoughts About Prayer

 

Where Do Prayers Go?

“The earth is [God’s] and all that is in it,

The world, and those who dwell in it.

For [God} has founded it on the seas,

and established it on the rivers…”

from Psalm 24

          After dinner at the Writer’s Retreat, we had an exercise in writing from prompts. One of prompts was Mary Oliver’s poem, “I Happened to be Standing.” Our assignment was to choose one line from the poem and write for ten minutes. I chose the opening lines: “I don’t know where prayers go/ or what they do.” This is my response:

          “I find myself praying a lot these days—sometimes facetiously, like, “Lord God, we could use a little help down here!” And, sometimes earnestly, “Please, please, just this once…” I don’t know where prayers go either, unless they go out in streams of energy as Caroline Myss says, or perhaps they just stay with me as a reminder that I am one small part of something much larger. Maybe prayers are like those blue electric strands that stick out from your head when you put your hands on that shiny, magnetic ball at the fairgrounds. Or maybe, praying simply soothes and comforts the one who is praying.

          Personally, I believe in the transfer of energy from one place on this planet to another—that our intention alone sends an invisible beam of energy to someone who doesn’t even know they’re receiving it. That beam connects the pray-er to the pray-ee by a strand of white light, and who knows, maybe it does both people some good. This I do know, prayer is built into me like heat in an oven, so that no matter where it goes, I’m sending it out in hope, if not always in faith.”

          Mary Oliver ends her poem by asking a rhetorical question, “Is a prayer a gift, or a petition/ or does it matter?” I would say, prayer is both—a gift and a petition. And I believe that when we say, “God hears our prayers,” we mean we are, in faith and hope, sending healing energy via our intentions directly to a person or a situation we believe needs help. We are asking the universe for them to be healed in whatever way is best for them. But it is not essential for prayer to involve words at all. We can accomplish that same transfer of energy by way of a smile, eye contact, a compassionate touch. It is our intention that matters—and it is our intention that must be clear.

In Mary Oliver fashion, here is a rhetorical question for you to ponder today: “Do butterflies pray, or are they the prayer? Does it really matter?”

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane