I only grew to love prayer once I expanded my definition of prayer. Growing up in the church the definition for prayer that I was given was “Talking to God”. “Just talk to God,” I was often told. This understanding of prayer is not wholly wrong, but it is unhelpful. One can define the ocean by saying, “It is where the whales live.” It is not inaccurate but it does not get us where we want to go.

My working definition of prayer is: being present with God who is already present with us. Talking to God is prayer because we are turning our attention to God. But contemplating the presence of God is also prayer. So is reading the scriptures. So is preaching. So is everything if we are simply present with God.

The problem I had with “Talking to God” prayer is that I did not always have a whole lot to say. I would pray for a few minutes, praise God, name a few requests, and not know where to go from there. I became more focused on the words and what I was saying than the God that I was supposedly praying to.

Praying the psalms and praying prayers that have been handed down to us from the saints was a doorway for me into prayer. They helped remove the distraction of coming up with the words and allowed me to focus solely on the God to whom I was directing the words. Centering prayer became the next step. Instead of having to talk at all, I could allow myself to be mindful of God’s presence – no words required.

The reality is that God is always present with us. There is never a moment when we do not have God’s attention. There is not a moment in which God is not moving towards us, loving us, wooing us, saving us. We are so often oblivious to this presence and movement of God. Prayer is the moment when we start paying attention. It can look like saying a few words. Or, as I have found it does for me, it looks like taking a walk, seeing a bird, and thinking, “God made it.” Perhaps I utter a “Thank you”. Maybe I see nothing at all but I come to awareness of God’s presence. This is prayer.