I just learned about this really cool Carnival called “The Carnival Of Beauty” and the subject for this week is…you guessed it Prayer! I’ve submitted the piece below in hopes it will get posted this week. Check out the link above to learn more about the Carnival, or click 
to go to the hostess of the week site.
The Beauty of Prayer
What is the beauty of prayer? For that matter, what is prayer? Is it in the words? Is it in the way we pray; how we postulate ourselves, or the place we choose? Perhaps it’s in our repentance or the fervor in which we pray. All these things affect our prayer, but I believe that the true beauty is in the simple act of reaching out and talking to God like He were sitting right there in front of us. Prayer is a conversation with God; there are no time constraints or lists of what to do and what not to do. There’s no right or wrong way to pray and He doesn’t judge us by our prayers. When I think of prayer and how much God wants us to pray I imagine it much like this:
Do you remember your first crush? You became nervous and giddy whenever they would be near and your words would come out all funny and tongue tied and no one could understand you. You were so sure that they wouldn’t see you or listen to you because you weren’t the coolest thing around or they were too pre-occupied with other things and people to notice you, but you wouldn’t give up hope that they would like you as much as you liked them. You spent hours doodling their name on your books or in your diary (of course this is only if you’re a girl) or writing them love notes (yes, even you guys did this one!!).
You can’t get them off your mind and you start to become consumed because the school is having a big dance soon and it’s getting down to the wire. You wonder if they’ll ever ask you out and keep thinking If only you could talk to them, tell them about your likes and dislikes, your hopes and dreams, then they would get to know you and see just how cool to hang out with you’d be. You just know they’ll never talk to you and then it happens, someone passes you a note and it says, “Will you hang out with me after school – check yes or no.” Then you read further down the paper and it says, “I really hope you check yes!” and, it’s signed by Him! Do you remember that feeling? How high off the ground were you?
I think God feels this way about us. He wants us to notice Him, talk to Him, and tell Him our hopes and plans and dreams. He knows if we would just talk to Him, get to know Him, then we’d want to hang out with Him. He passes His notes along to us through His word, he sends His buddy the Holy Spirit to get us to notice Him. He sent His Son, Jesus to talk to us on His behalf and He even puts people in our path to get our attention. He wants us to know that it’s not a complicated thing this “praying” and that He never meant it to be that way. He already knows what’s on our minds; we’re all He thinks about day and night. We’re the reason He created this universe, and the reason He sent His Son. He wants to be with us always and wants us to talk to Him all the time.When we take time to talk to Him, I believe He gets that same giddy feeling and He writes us love notes and doodles our names on His books. He sends people our way to tell us how much He loves us and the plans He has for us. He’ll also tell us things on His own through His word, or when we fully submit ourselves to Him. The more we talk to Him, the more we learn of Him. The more we learn the more He can bestow upon us and become intimate with us. Herein lies the beauty of prayer; having God reveal Himself to us, sharing His dreams for us, blessing us and drawing us closer to Him.
