Becoming A Parent Who Prays

I can count on one hand the people I would call if I desperately needed prayer. And although that sounds like an indictment of the poor spiritual culture that defines American spirituality I am thankful for that handful. 

As the title of this post suggests I count my parents as those few who stand in the gap or intercede or whatever other phrase there is to describe people who just cry out to God on the behalf of others. More times than I can remember I have asked them to pray. More times than I know of I am sure they were praying for me anyway. 

I can look at the state of my world and unwaveringly declare that we need more parents who pray. 

But we also need more children who pray. 

I guess you could look at it this way: Everyone is either a parent or a child, therefore there is a need for you to pray.

I asked my mom to look back over her life and pinpoint the moments when she felt that she started down the path to becoming a prayer-warrior. And although she shied away from the title (all true prayer-warriors do) she came to person. Not a time, a crisis, a revelation. A person. It wasn't a seven-step seminar or a booklet my mom read that set her on the path. It was a person who took time to teach the importance of prayer.

In the age of the information super-highway it is striking to not be taking back to a book or to an article in a current magazine. And I must admit that writing a blog about the subject matter in light of the details seems a little ironic as well. So I will refrain from giving you steps or pointers or hints at how to become a better pray-er. 

I will only point you to another example that I find quite familiar to the story of my mother's prayer mentor. 

It is in Luke 11:1-13. The disciples wanted to learn to be better pray-ers. (And perhaps you do as well) So they went to the one who they knew prayed the most and asked for help. Jesus was always sneaking away to pray and the disciples knew it and they were wise to ask Jesus for help. 

Is there someone you can ask that question to? "Can you teach me to pray?" I hope so. I pray so. And I pray that you will have the courage to go and ask them to mentor you, to coach you. And I hope that you learn not only how to pray but how important it is that you pray.