A Poem about What Prayer Is
There are a million ways to pray, many roads we could take that would lead to the same place.
There's one thing I feel to be true about it: no matter how you pray or what you pray for, prayer is a lot like love.
However you practice living a spiritual life, I hope this poem about prayer inspires how you love. (And I think this art print speaks volumes.)
In the end, it's all about how we've loved, isn't it?
Prayer Is:
A temple, or a green field,
a place to enter
in which to feel.
Being part of a moment.
Finding peace in a mystery,
answers in the silence,
room in the heart.
The service that comes
after sorrow, the tears
that fall from joy, or beauty,
when you climb the height of a mountain,
and see,
for miles and miles.
This is a place where prayer lives.
housed in a holy place;
in love.
Where the heart is, absolutely,
there is space for prayer to draw breath.
It is being a child of the earth
and sky,
seeking companionship with the trees,
giving until the giving
feels like receiving.
It is loving each breath, truly loving it.
It is a love — the same love — that,
no matter which way you turn it,
you can't see where it began
nor even consider where it might end.
In the end, prayer is a lot like love.
Isn't it more than asking,
but also in the listening?
Isn't it more than an act,
but also a stillness?
More than two hearts in conversation,
more than a communion with nature,
isn't it the closing of the gap
altogether,
two hearts beating
as one?
In the beginning,
prayer speaks of love but
in truth,
it is much more than a means.
Prayer itself, is love.
The same love.
The same love.
. . .
Tell me:
What from this poem speaks to your life right now? How do you love, or, what feels like love to you?
Tell me in the comments. I'd love to know what prayer (and love) means to you.
Jen
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Comments on this post (7)
Eileen, it’s okay to feel a lot all at once. You do have a lot of love to give, and there are many ways to give that love and bring it to life outside of you… and inside of you. You’ve been in my thoughts and heart, and will continue to be. You are a gift to the world and an inspiration to me. Carry on. x
— Jennifer Williamson
Jim, thank you for your kindness and heart, as always. You’re a gift to me.
— Jennifer Williamson
Jack, I respect your beliefs, feelings, experience, and skill. I write poetry, which means that your interpretation is what you will make of it. You are allowed to speak the words that are in your heart, as am I.
This is my space to share what’s in my heart so that I can heal and so that others may find peace, joy, love, healing, connection (God, maybe?) through our sharing. It is a space for love, and that is all.
I do not mention Jesus, or any particular name because I write without religion in mind, for we do not all follow the same religion. This is my truth, and my truth is based on my life and my experiences. To write what’s just not me would be false and well, that’s not what I do this for.
I appreciate and love my readers, whatever their beliefs and whichever religion they have grown up following or now choose to follow. I hear from many readers who are Catholic or Christian, Buddhist or Pagan or Atheist, and it does not matter what our differences are here. We are bonded in grief, joy, love, and hope. This will remain a space for everyone. So long as we are respectful and do not ask each other to change the truth that’s in their heart.
May we learn to appreciate our differences, because whatever name or label we apply to our spirituality/experiences, it all might yet be the same underneath it all.
Jen
— Jennifer Williamson
Thank you Pat. Love you <3
— Jennifer Williamson
Jen,
Your poem about prayer is beautiful.
It opened a space in my heart I didn’t know was there.
Prayer and love are linked so beautifully,
“Prayer itself, is love.”
Your poem explains that.
Your poem is love.
Your poem is a beautiful prayer.
Thank you, love,
Jim
— Jim
Jesus sits at the right hand of God
(ABBA or Daddy).
If you place your palms facing up, side by side, and the sides of each hand touching, this one, right hand depicts where Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God (left hand). This becomes a mirror image of the hands. Jesus is the mirror image of God.
God gave us him as his only begotten son who was made in the image of him. Now, take these hands and bring the thumbs together. God and Jesus as one forms the prayer hands.
This is pure logic that adds up to become a sum of the premises.
I hope this very strong, logic helps you.( Remember my H 2 O )
I am currently writing a song ( words) that has this as the main theme. I can sing. Josh Groban style. D Major.
I turn to prayer, to God, in a personal way to encounter him and that way I grow in knowledge of him.
God’s desire for us is for us to pray " on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" (Ephesians 6:18).
But, you always fail to mention him, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.
Stay well my friend.
Jack
— Jack
You captured the meaning of prayer and expressed Prayer in words beautifully. I feel the same about prayer in your description.
Thank you for sharing the meaning of prayer
Pat
— Pat