An Experiment in Prayer
Kamal (Perfection), 8 Sharaf (Honor) 164 B.E. - Sunday, January 6, 2008 about 8:21 PM PST
This is the first in a series of Spiritual Sunday essays. I am writing these essays from personal experiences taken from the 61 years of my life. I turned 61 on December 24, 2007.
I read an article once about a man who tried an experiment with prayer. He would say prayers for a while and then he would stop praying. When he stopped praying his life situation got worse. At the time I read the article, I thought that it was an interesting experiment, but not one I intended to attempt.
I have always believed in prayer so trying an experiment like that did not appeal to me. My own experiment in prayer began inadvertently. My prayer life had gotten to the point where I just said the prayers. I did not focus on the prayers I said or the way they made me feel during and afterwards.
When my mother went into the hospital last year, I began focusing on the prayers. I focused on one prayer in particular. That was the Long Healing Prayer revealed by Baha'u'llah. When I read that prayer, for my mother, I focused on the words and on the spiritual feeling that accompanied them. The lesson I learned was to focus on the prayer, even if I know the prayer by heart I still need to focus on it.
This is the first in a series of Spiritual Sunday essays. I am writing these essays from personal experiences taken from the 61 years of my life. I turned 61 on December 24, 2007.
I read an article once about a man who tried an experiment with prayer. He would say prayers for a while and then he would stop praying. When he stopped praying his life situation got worse. At the time I read the article, I thought that it was an interesting experiment, but not one I intended to attempt.
I have always believed in prayer so trying an experiment like that did not appeal to me. My own experiment in prayer began inadvertently. My prayer life had gotten to the point where I just said the prayers. I did not focus on the prayers I said or the way they made me feel during and afterwards.
When my mother went into the hospital last year, I began focusing on the prayers. I focused on one prayer in particular. That was the Long Healing Prayer revealed by Baha'u'llah. When I read that prayer, for my mother, I focused on the words and on the spiritual feeling that accompanied them. The lesson I learned was to focus on the prayer, even if I know the prayer by heart I still need to focus on it.
Labels: blog theme, experiment, prayer, prayers, spiritual, Sunday
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