Not many things in any domain of life are essential.
What is essential for Good health? Sleep, water, movement, real food and sunshine – that’s about it.
Not vitamin supplements, not complicated exercises, not protein powder. Those things can help, but you can get by without them.
And if you rely on them but neglect what’s essential, then you’re in trouble.
What’s essential for your career? Be trustworthy and make your boss look Good.
Now, sure, there’s a lot in those two things, but they’re not complicated. Do them always and you’ll be fine.
Neglect those at your peril.
Likewise, the list of things Christians must do is short:
Love God, love your neighbour, carry your cross, follow Jesus, believe the Nicene Creed and pray.
There’s a lot else you can do as a Christian, but not a lot else you have to. Every virtue stems from those essentials.
And you can unpack each of those essentials all day.
For now, let’s focus on that last one.
Prayer is the simplest thing you can do. They could have programmed computers to pray back in the ‘50s. It’s not hard to recite a few lines.
That’s the basic action in prayer, much as the stroke of a paintbrush is the basic action in portraiture.
And like painting, there’s a lot you can do with that – and many ways it can go wrong.
Because reciting the words is just what prayer looks like from the outside.
You also need to keep a clear head, free from distraction.
An open heart.
A willingness to surrender fully to God.
Your intellect engaged on the intellectual nature of the Lord and your soul engaged on the spiritual dimension.
There’s a lot to it.
Prayer can be more than just saying the words.
And it should be. It should draw on every part of you, achieving a full and total communion with God. Anything short of that is a letdown.
It’s a bit like interacting with others. If you’re too in your own head and not attending to the relationship, of course things will go sour.
You need to get out of your perspective and consider theirs.
Read what that means – and more – right here: