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How many times have you prayed in your life?

Now I’m not asking

How many lists you’ve made

Or

How many religious instructions you’ve obeyed

Or

How many games of ‘Guilty Christian’ you’ve played

Or

How many public speeches you’ve relayed

Or

How many recitations you’ve portrayed

I’m asking how many times have you prayed?

How many times have you:

Cried, whimpered

Sighed, whispered

Tried to listen

Died and risen

How many times have you approached God honestly?

Asking for nothing, but got everything

Had everything to hide, but hid nothing

Said not a word, but spoke endlessly

Never opened your eyes, but saw eternity

How many times

Have you reached inside

Yourself so deeply that you pulled out something you didn’t recognize

How many times have you approached your maker

Not as who you want to be

Not as who you wish you were

Not as who you think you are

Not as who you ought to be

But just as you are

With all that dirt

That covered you

When God first fell in love with you

How many times have you run to your

Lover for passion, your

Provider for rations, your

Father for lessons, your

Instructor for lashings

Oh, how many times have you prayed?

For your God’s ear it waits

For one drop of confession

One honest expression

One wild connection

Don’t approach the living God with dead prayers

But come to him when your lifeless prayers are dead

And the spirit on your tongue is dripping with life

Then every syllable you speak will be a divine trade

Your mouth will leak with the flood of praise you’ve made

The number you seek will be far too high to be weighed

And you’ll never be able to answer my question of

“How many times have you prayed?”

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