Buechner: Prayer
“WE ALL PRAY whether we think of it as praying or not.”—Frederick Buechner.
Frederick Buechner reminds us that the sigh that automatically leaps from us when we see beauty, art, music, mouth-watering comfort food, or old friends can be identified as the thanks, wow prayers Anne Lamott wrote about in Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (Riverhead, 2012). There is something inside us, the God in us, the Christ in us, the Spirit within us, that cannot help but direct us back to the connection we came from. This is another word for prayer: a link to the place from which we came.
Buechner also reminds us of all the stories in the New Testament about how God assures us that persistence in prayer can make a difference in our lives. The Hound of Heaven is in pursuit of us, and we are to follow that example. If nothing else, we are also heeding C. S. Lewis’ advice to “act as if” we believe in that power greater than ourselves—and eventually, something happens. The 12-step groups put it more simply, “fake it till you make it.”
Buechner also suggests it is not a bad practice, even if we consider prayer merely as talking to ourselves. It’s like the Ignatian examen, where we review what is happening in our life. We review our day and discover insights that we might never have known if we had not stopped to consider where we need help and which path might be best. We soon learn that we are called to the road less traveled, leading to many more prayers.
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com