Lately, I’ve been thinking (and reading) about prayer. I know it’s something a lot of Christians struggle with sometimes even if we don’t admit it. I know I struggle often with it. I think I always have.  I’m consistently inconsistent with it. I make intentions to pray about specific things and then forget. I schedule times to stop and pray and then constantly ignore them. I sit down to pray and suddenly can’t remember what I wanted to pray for or my words get so jumbled I don’t even know what I’m trying to say or, worse still, my mind wanders on so many endless trails of tangents that I forget I was praying at all. I’m constantly working on it and constantly falling short.

But I kinda think that’s what God is trying to show me.

In a book I’m reading about prayer, the author talked about how prayer with God should be like a conversation at the dinner table with family. When I read that, I immediately imagined my family. I live with my older sister and my parents, and thankfully we get along very well. Shared dinner times happen often in our house. And those dinner table conversations tend to be all over the place, jumping from one topic to the next, following whatever comes to someone’s mind next. Some of it is informative or instructive, other parts are just for fun or to reminisce. It can be casual and then serious and then quickly flow back into casual. It’s comfortable and easy. Even when I have a specific topic I want to bring to the table, it’s never brought with preamble or formality. There’s a simple flow to our entire interaction. Never forced or awkward. As it should be with family.

But I’ve never thought of prayer like that. Prayer, conversation with my Heavenly Father, had always been so formal and forced, even though it was just between me and God. It felt (and still often feels) too awkward to become casual. My mind was focusing too much on the greatness and majesty of God and not enough on the intimate relationship and love God has for His children.

So instead praying like I am writing a letter with salutations, perfectly formatted sentences, and complimentary closes, I am trying to approach God like I do my family. With familiarity, comfort and honesty. And honestly, this approach has made praying a more common activity in my day. Instead of waiting for the perfect time or the perfect phrasing, I go to God wherever I am, at whatever time I need to. Because God has one thing that my family can never have. Omnipresence. He is ready to meet with me anytime and anywhere. And he’s always ready to talk with me, whether it’s about the state of my life or the state of my growing laundry pile.

There’s always time for dinner conversations with God.