Who's your Buddy?

I was thinking about prayer today. I do pray every day but lately, I don’t feel very effective in prayer. I get up every morning, sit on my porch and start my prayer. My prayer usually goes like, ‘Good Morning Papa God. Another great day is starting and I want to thank you.” So I thank him; I ask for forgiveness and then I list my needs and wants. I know this sounds kind of selfish but at least I pray…but like I said, not very effectively. It just seems like I have been going through the motions…KnowhatImean?

I have been reading a book called, “The Mulligan” by Ken Blanchard and Wally Armstrong. To say it’s an inspiring book would be saying way too little. It’s an awesome book! It’s all about golf…well… and life. Wait; let me say that again, it’s about life through the disciplines of golf.

I am at the section of the book were it describes how to begin your day and your golf game. If you have ever played golf or any sport for that matter you know you have to warm up. Some stretch; some hit balls on the driving range and some do both. What’s this got to do with life? Well the same principles are involved. You have to stretch and go to the driving range to warm up.

Some of us begin our day with this warm up: Go to the bathroom; start the coffee; turn on the TV to the Local news and traffic; drink our coffee; get dressed; kiss our spouses and children (please…only if this applies to you); fix our appearance and walk out the door for work. What’s wrong with this picture? Not really anything… but don’t complain if your day doesn’t go quite the way you expect it.

A better example of warming up for the day could be: Getting up and finding a quiet place to have a cup of coffee, relax and pray…not necessarily in that order mind you. If you have to go to the bathroom before this no worries, don’t concentrate so much on the mechanics…the key is to relax and pray with no distractions. Later on you can read your word, check out traffic and get ready for work. This time is God and you…he deserves your attention.

Even in prayer though, we sometimes go through the motions in the morning. We know we need to pray each morning; we know we have a lot to do today so we rush through our prayer mechanically and duplicate the process of speaking to God. We pretty much say the same prayer each day just different words stuck in at convenient locations.

In the book, “The Mulligan” its simple stated, “It’s so easy to think of prayer as an event or obligation rather than as a way of life. It’s simply talking to a friend along the course of your day from the start to finish.”

That really got me thinking… when I pray in the morning to God and in privacy. I have been praying as if there is a group of people listening to the prayer. God is our Father; God loves us; God is our best friend…is that how we talk to our loved ones or our friends.

No.

So why do we get all ritualistic and traditional when we pray to the Lord? Why should we ever pray like that?

I don’t know about you…but I am going right now and talk to my buddy like I talk to you! God is our buddy….when’s the last time you just talked to him.

Matthew 6:5-8 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then you’re Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.