Thursday, 12 June 2008

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    Indiana (with Bonus Disc) - Amazon.com Exclusive
    By Jon McLaughlin
    Human
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    Praying With a Short Attention Span

    I have difficulty remembering to really pray on a daily basis - and by praying, I mean more than saying grace over dinner or asking God to make the A train arrive faster. Praying feels essentially like conversing with a friend I can't see or audibly hear, which makes it really easy to space out. While praying, I'm prone to distraction from people turning on the TV or barging into the room asking to borrow a hair straightener.

    I'm in awe of people who can pray continuously for an hour. I can't even go ten minutes without wondering what's for lunch that day!

    Someone recommended that I treat prayer the way I treat studying or fitness. In order to stay disciplined, I need to delegate a specific place and time to devote myself wholly to that one activity. I've since come up with 3 prayer places:

    In the shower. It's calm, it's relaxing, and unless you have my roommate (okay, okay, I'll stop - I've forgiven her!), you're not going to be interrupted. Call me a cheeseball, but physically cleaning myself also works a reminder how God cleans me during prayer. The only downside to showering while praying is the amount of water wasted when I take my time.
    On the train. Taking public transportation's become so routine that I can now easily tune out the noises and activity around me. All it takes is an mp3 player with some praise or classical music and a total lack of interest in the surrounding conversations. The problem with praying during work, a boring class, or while studying is that I always feel as if I'm using prayer to procrastinate on other duties. When you're on the train, there's not much you have to do besides arrive at your destination.
    In an empty church: As an overly dramatic child, I imagined myself fleeing to a church and collapsing onto the pews while staring up at the image of Christ looming above me. Several years later (about a year ago, to be exact), I really did find sanctuary in an empty cathedral after feeling overwhelmed by conflicts with my friends. It felt like stepping into another dimension; the familiar setting not only relaxed my nerves, but it isolated God's voice and my emotions from the opinions of other people.

    I'm trying to pray for 10 minutes at a time now. Maybe next week, it'll be 15, and after that, 30....

     

    Does anyone else have trouble concentrating? How do you stay focused while praying?

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