Making Prayer a Habit
I am therefore not really deeply worried that prayer is at present a duty, and even an irksome one. This is humiliating. It is frustrating. It is terribly time wasting. The worse one is praying the longer one's prayers take, but we are still only at school.
C. S. Lewis1
Our abandonment of one thing is not sufficient to settle us in the habitual practice of the other, but there is need again of some fresh impulse, and of an effort not less than that made in our avoidance of evil dispositions, in order to our acquiring good ones.
John Chrysostom2 Many problems go away if you just leave them alone. Try to fix them and you only make them worse. Most stomach aches, rainstorms, and sour moods, for example, eventually disappear if you ignore them as best you can. Other problems go away only if you deal with them thoughtfully, thoroughly, and persistently. They need attention. Left alone they slip into the nagging subconscious, but they never go away. The problem of developing a consistent prayer life falls into this category. Without some effort, prayer will not become significant. Let's assume, for a moment, you want to work at prayer—whether out of love for or obedience to God, you want to make prayer a regular part of your life. What now? First we must recognize some dangers in pursuing a habit of prayer. Focusing too heavily on the mechanics of prayer can defeat the very purpose of it. Any time the mechanics of prayer get in the way of loving God, they are useless. Dry, joyless prayer results. It is somewhat akin to the lack of joy you see in some picture takers. You've seen them. They abound at vacation spots and scenic overlooks. They are driven to photograph things even if it means discomfort and distraction to themselves and ...
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