the PRACTICE of prayer

I am writing about the practice of prayer. 

'Practice' is a reassuringly down-to-earth word.  We practice because we are not yet perfect, because we know that we have much to learn.  To be fruitful, practice must be faithfully sustained over a long period.  Practice is rarely exciting, often not even interesting: anyone who has gained fluency in foreign language or modest competence with a musical instrument knows that there are no short cuts.  Practice can be tedious, and the prize is glimpsed fleetingly at best. 

Our life of prayer is a life of practice.  Sometimes we are struck with boring finger exercises or daunting scales with six flats.  Sometimes we are led with growing confidence through the tangled intricacies of a Bach fugue and are rewarded with a triumphant harmonic chord at the end that brings together all the disparate strains of melody, making some sense of what seemed troubling or meaningless in our lives before. 

The practice of prayer is the work of a lifetime, touching every aspect of our life, from the search for identity to the challenge of vocation to the acceptance of death.  It takes us through the heights, the depths, and the desert - to say nothing of the occasional swamp.

How we practice our prayer makes a difference in who we are and what we become.

-Margaret Guenther, The Practice of Prayer