It has been a way to begin. The recipe I have for prayer helps me when the needs around me are overwhelming, or my heart is too weary to know what I need. 

 

I am sorry. Admitting my failures, still catches in my throat, which is naive if I actually believe God is omniscient. Which I do. If I am honest, I have the same resistance to apologizing to a friend. If I don't say it out loud, maybe they won't realize that I hurt them? On the contrary, healing can begin when I ask for it. 

 

I am working on.... The simple effort to articulate my spiritual aspirations turns them from happenstance to genuine. Probably I am informing myself more than God, but I think He likes to hear it spoken. 

 

Thank you for... Appreciation is sweet in any relationship, including a Divine one. God's gifts to us are infinite, so it behooves me to give thanks at least once a day. 

 

Please help... Looking around me for people who need shoring up is a step toward deescalating my egocentricity. I elaborate the details of their well being, as if I am about to blow out the candles on their behalf. 

 

I love you. I say it to my family at the end of every phone call. Why not say it to God? 

 

It occurs to me that I have neglected to include listening in my prayers. A pause for His response seems like a good idea. Which is how I intend to expand my prayer life.