This past Sunday at Cornerstone, we began an new mini-series on prayer yesterday as part of our mega-series called Alive. The focus for the next couple of weeks will be geared towards how we communicate with God through this avenue of prayer. It seems to be one of those facets of our journey that can easily get out of line because it often feels more one-sided than it should. That is, we do most of the talking and the other side of the conversation where we listen just seems more difficult.

As I was spending a bit of time journaling this morning and thinking about prayer at the same time, a question came to my mind. How do I make prayer such a part of my life that it is weaved into everything I am doing? And I do not mean, agreeing with what Rusty said yesterday, that I’m asking God for the best parking spot. Rather, how do I teach myself to pray without ceasing? How do I teach myself to continually ask, “what is Your will for my life today?”

I finally decided that teaching myself this is like teaching a baby to walk. The steps will be incremental. I will wiggle around on the floor for a while rolling from my back to my stomach. At some point I will begin to crawl. After a while, I will begin to walk, albeit a funny, shaky sort of walk. Eventually, however, I will walk without even thinking about it. Like a baby, I cannot get frustrated with myself for not being able to jump up and run a marathon. That’s not even close to how the process works. I must be satisfied with the milestones that Holy Spirit helps me to conquer until praying, and praying God’s will in my life, is as natural as walking.

Just one quick thought on a practical way to help you remember to pray and to pray often. My mother once bought a sheet of very small, round, yellow stickers. You would have to really be looking for them to notice them. But she placed them all over our house and I believe even in her car. Her purpose was so that every time she saw one of these small stickers, it would remind her to pray about whatever situation she was thinking about. Contextualize it, how you will, but I thought to be a clever way to focus on making prayer a vital part of her everyday life.