Is It Time to Pray Yet?

            Here’s a new one that I’ve been dealing with lately. How do I know whether it’s time to pray or not? Sure, if something absolutely wonderful happens, I always say a thankful prayer. Then, if something absolutely horrible happens, I always ask God for help.

            What about the rest of the time, though?

            There seem to be two times to say a prayer: when something good happens and when something bad happens. For example, when I studied extremely hard for a test last week and got an A, I thanked God for helping me get through it all. On the other hand, when I was angry at a friend of mine who really hurt me a couple of weeks ago, I asked God to help me get over my anger and forgive her. Those were two instances where I felt that I needed to pray and knew just what to pray for.

            But what about the time in between?

            I’ve noticed that there are times when nothing wonderful or horrible has really happened and I’m just there, in between. Nothing necessarily great is going on, but nothing bad is either. I’m not extremely thankful about anything or upset. I’m just okay.

            What do I pray about then?

            Unfortunately, I’ve been falling into the habit of spending less time praying when I’m in that “in between” mode. I subconsciously seem to think that since there’s nothing really interesting going on in my life at the moment to pray about, then it’s not time to pray.

            I’ve come to disagree with myself.

            There’s always something to pray about. Praying is just talking to God and if I have time to talk to my friends and family when there’s nothing really interesting going on in my life, then I should have time to just talk to God too. Besides, as one of my best friends always likes to point out to me, there’s always something to be thankful for. Just the fact that I woke up this morning is worth saying a quick thankful prayer. I can at least pray about that.

God always knows what’s going on in my life and if there’s nothing really interesting, He knows that too. Maybe during those times I’m not going to have as long a prayer as I would if something amazing or horrible just happened, but that’s okay. God understands because He knows everything, including my heart and my life. That doesn’t mean it isn’t the right time to pray, though. It just means that my prayers are going to be a little different. Why? Because praying isn’t only for good or bad times, it’s for all times.

And so, next time my life seems to be pretty dull and I don’t know whether or not I should even bother praying, I’m going to remember this:

It’s always time to pray.