To Live is to pray

“Prayer, according to Brother David, is waking up to the presence of God no matter where I am or what I am doing. When I am fully alert to whatever or whoever is right in front of me; when I am electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive; when I am able to give myself wholly to the moment I am in, then I am in prayer

                                                                        Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World

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to live is to pray

not merely to live,

as one going through the motions, without hope

or purpose

but to really live

engaged

connected

to really live

so awake

to the sacred around us

and in us

to be so aware

of the what is happening

to those

placed in our path

the pain and fear

the anger and despair

the joy and the hope

so aware of the needs of the world

and the beauty of creation

that we cannot help but respond

joining our hearts

and souls (if there is such a thing)

with all around us,

scattering our hope and will wishes

our questions and our pleas

into the far reaches of the universe,

to Sacred, the heart of all creation

allowing our hearts burst into a Sacred song

of joy and amazement

supplication and hope.

that is prayer!