Woody Allen once said: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”  There’s some truth in that. One of the problems employers encounter is the difficulty in getting new hires to actually show up for work.

Surprisingly, Woody’s comment could be applied to prayer. Fr. Ronald Rolheiser writes: “there is only one nonnegotiable rule for prayer: ‘Show up! Show up regularly!’ The ups and downs of our minds and hearts are of secondary importance.”*

Prayer is strange. Sometimes it can be quite fulfilling. Other times it seems dry, empty, a chore. The temptation when prayer is not going well is to stop praying. What we need is to keep praying.

Prayer needs to be part of a routine, a pattern, a habit. But aren’t routines boring? Don’t they stifle creativity? I don’t think so. When I was little nobody could get me to go to sleep unless they first read one the stories from the pile of Little Golden Books next to my bed. I still read most nights before going to sleep. I’ve never found that routine boring or stifling.

I start my day by praying Lauds or Vigils from my prayer book. After breakfast I practice centering prayer for 20 minutes. In the evening I pray the Jesus prayer for about 15 minutes and sometimes Vespers. That’s just what I do. I can’t tell other people exactly what prayer routine they should follow, only that they should follow a routine.

God always shows up whether we pray or not. It would be good if we showed up as well.

Read Romans 12:11-12  and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

*Domestic Monastery, p. 45.