Learning As We Go - Growing in Unity Group

At one of the lowest points in my life, I stumbled across the most powerful prayer I've ever experienced. The words were simple, accessible, and held within them the heart of everything my soul knows to be true. The words were "Thank you for everything."

When the words first came to the forefront of my consciousness, they almost seemed impossible to utter. I was just dipping my toe back into a relationship with the Divine after multiple heartbreaks in close succession leading me to make a failed attempt at atheism. Among them, getting divorced, being invited to leave my church where people threw my divorce in my face as proof that "God was abandoning me", and finding myself in a financial situation where I was responsible for the debt my ex and I incurred together. So you can see why the last thing I wanted to say was "thank you". Let alone, "Thank you for everything." Because my "everything" felt like too much at the time.

I was actually forcing myself to pray. I didn't really want to do it. However, some reckoning I had done with myself pushed me to at least try. But, I couldn't think of any words. I didn't feel like doing the kind of prayers I heard in church. It brought up some feelings that I was actively trying to avoid. And I felt like the prayer style that I learned from my family was like a bad nursery rhyme that didn't match the person I was becoming.

Start Where You Are

My actual praying began by me acknowledging that I didn't know what to say. I was just talking to myself about not being able to think of the right words and I got on a roll. Many wouldn't call that praying. But, it absolutely is. Don't we talk about the Christ within? If I were to describe the experience now, I would say that I was just talking to the "Christ within" saying things like, "I don't even know what to say.", "This has been a rough season." "I feel pretty angry." I threw in a few expletives. And I basically poured out what was in my heart. Then when I came to the end of dumping out what was in the way of any feelings of reverence, gratitude, or whatever I thought I was supposed to feel, there was Silence. And out of the Silence, the thought arose, "Say, 'Thank you for everything.'" Long story short, despite initial resistance, I got myself to say it. And once the words stumbled out, a flood of things to be grateful for came in.

A lot of us have been enculturated into believing that prayer has to be this smooth talking appeal to get a God outside of us to grant our wishes. Then if we don't get what we think we want, many of us think the prayer didn't work or that we are bad at praying or manifesting. That simply is not my experience. And as some of the folks I have been reading recently have expressed in so many ways, to include Unity Columbine's own Prayer Chaplains in their book, The Dance of Prayer (available in our bookstore), prayer is as natural as breathing.

One of the things that I really appreciate about this community is that you all acknowledge the accessibility of prayer for everyone and not just the ministers. It's awesome that community members trust one another with our prayers and that people choose to be a part of the prayer chaplain corp (my name for them, not theirs).

One of the greatest gifts for me in this life is the awareness that I have instantaneous and effortless access to the Divine Mind. In every other area of our culture, we are told that there are some of us who are above and some who are below and that between us there are extreme distances that keep us from one another. Add to this is the notion that the lowest have to earn access to the highest. But, in consciousness all is One. What impacts one impacts all. And when we pray, we are reminded that the One Source that is Life, gives Life, and lives in us, through us, and as us is everywhere active binding all to All.

Mindful of this, the Christ within me is praying with the Christ within you saying "Thank you for everything that brought us to this one precious moment." I look forward to a world where more and more people know that they are worthy of being the dwelling place of the Divine and that--as we sang recently--when we see each other we see the face of God.

I would love to hear what comes up for you when you contemplate the efficacy of prayer. And if there are other things that you all would like to start conversations about, feel free to start one here or offer suggestions. I am enjoying sharing on this platform with you all and look forward to seeing what blossoms from these seeds of connection.