The opening quote on this chapter is by Dom John Chapman and is says: "pray as you can, not as you can't" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I will admit that at first, and even now, I am not too sure I know what this is saying. But when I think about it, I think it is saying that we should pray the way that we know how, the way that works best for us, instead of trying to 'fit in" with everyone else in terms of how to pray. If praying is about being with God, spending time with Him, then each of us will have a different way of being with Him; a different way in which we can spend time with God. Maybe there is not just one way to spend time with God.
One of the things that stuck out to me in this book is when Foster wrote: "it is the notion-almost universal among us modern high achievers- that we have to have everything 'just right 'in order to pray. That is, before we can really pray, our lives need some fine tuning, or we need to know more about how to pray, or we need to study the philosophical questions surrounding prayer, or we need to have a better grasp of the great traditions of prayer"(Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I felt that I could relate to this a little. I want to pray daily and have it be an important part of my life, yet I also feel like I need to learn how to pray. So I am reading books about praying, and talking to my friends about it, etc. Foster goes on to say that it is almost like we think of praying as something we can master. And the thing is, we can never master praying. Praying is spending time with God, and how can we master that? In this section, foster quotes Emilie Griffin in saying "to pray means to be willing to be naïve" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I loved this quote for some reason. Maybe because I tend to be a little bit naïve sometimes.
This part stuck out to me maybe the most, mainly because it is freaky to be how close it is to my own feelings. I won't quote the entire paragraph, but I will quote enough to give a basic idea of what it is talking about. "I used to think that I needed to get all my motives straightened out before I could pray, really pray" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). Then further down he writes: "you understand I did not want to be a hypocrite" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I can relate to this so much! I not want to be a fake Christian. I do not want to fake anything aspect of my life with God, and so if I do not know why something is being done or if I not feel it, then I won't do it. like taking the wine at communion(or taking communion at all for a long while). And my reasoning, as you can see is very similar to Foster's: I don't want to be a hypocrite. But Foster says that when it comes to praying, none of us have or will ever have totally pure motives. He writes: "but what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive is with all out mixture. We do not have be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). What I got from this is that we should not let the fact that we are not feeling loving, or that we don't know how to pray, or out motives are not 100% pure and altruistic, and holy, etc. we will never not have a mixture of motivations, because we don't live in a perfect world, so we should just come to prayer, come to God. He knows it all already, and He can handle all of it. Foster wrote that it is kind of like when children come to their parents, and sometimes their requests are selfish or their manners are mean, and the parents cringe, but the parents are also glad that their child came to them. It reminded me of something I wrote in an email to my friend Brent a day or so ago, that praying is kind of like a friendship: you don't just talk to your friend when you are happy and pleased with them you know? Foster ended this section of the chapter with this: "we will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).
In the next prayer, Foster introduces the concept of Simple Prayer. He writes: "simple prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretense in Simple Prayer. We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are. We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God-or ourselves" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). To put it simply, I love this idea. I love the idea that I don't have to have prayer all figured out, or be a certain way when I pray, or feel a certain way, or have a certain emotion, etc. I came just…be with God. No matter the method, no matter the location, no matter the words, no matter the motive, no matter the intension, no matter the words, no matter the actions, etc. I can just…be with God. I just have to come. God will do the rest.
"There is a temptation, especially by the 'sophisticated' to despise this most elementary way of praying. They seek to skip over Simple Prayer in the hopes of advancing to more 'mature' expressions of prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I really believe in this, because I kind of am guilty of doing this in a way. I did not grow up in any kind of religious environment, and also, I have met some truly great and awesome Christians at ACU who are my friends. Due to these reasons, I always feel like…like a Christian baby while my friends are Christian teenagers. Like they are all so much more ahead of me, so much more advanced. Sometimes, I feel like the annoying little sister who always want to speak to her big siblings about trivial and basic things at great length while they are all wanting me to leave them be so they can concentrate on the more serious things. But reading this, it made me feel like maybe basic is not always a bad thing. And if Simple Prayer means praying by coming just as you are, no requirements, etc. then maybe, that is the way we should all be striving to pray like.
At the beginning of the next section, entitled "Beginning Where We Are", Foster Wrote: "to believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the stuff of prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I really loved this! It kind of speaks for itself so I won't comment on it, but I loved it a lot!
One thing that foster wrote is that we should not be afraid to yell or scream at God, to argue with Him, etc. he wrote: "God is perfectly capable of handling our anger and frustration and dissapoiment. CS Lewis counsels us to 'lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). This struck me because it seems like I know this, but I always…feel bad, when I complain to God, or when I am angry at Him. I want to trust Him 100%, but that is hard and maybe a little unrealistic, so maybe I should not feel bad for being totally honest with God.
Foster ended this section with this: "and so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life, a little like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. For now, do not worry about 'proper' praying, just talk to God" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). This encouraged me to just…talk to God and not worry about doing it right, or doing it seriously enough, or mature enough, etc.
"We must never be discouraged by our lack of prayer. Even in our prayerlessness we can hunger for God. If so, the hunger is itself prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).I was really struck by this because I always worry about how little I pray, and yet I so long and like to think I'm working towards changing that. So this gives me hope that maybe, longing for prayer and for God is a prayer in of itself.
"An opposite but equally important counsel is to let go of trying too hard to pray" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I love this because he is reminding us that while we should work at praying, it is also not something that we should force upon ourselves, at least not in a "I won't stop until I get this right" sorta way. We should work at praying, but we should also remember that it is not something that should be forced upon ourselves, or others.
"Finally, I would suggest that in the beginning it is wise to strive for uneventful prayer experiences" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). When I read this, I thought of it like if you are in a romantic relationship, and you expect that every time you talk or hang out, it will be this beautiful, romantic, deeply intense and significant thing, etc. if you had those expectations, then it won't work. It cannot always be like that. Trying to always make it romantic and significant would take your attention away from the small, every day details that make up a relationship.
Basically, what I got from this chapter is pray by simply talking to God, despite your mood. Don't worry about getting it right or your motives. Just pray. Just come to God. He will do the rest.
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