Sep. 14: Home is Where Prayer Is

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote the following about the importance of prayer in our daily lives:

“Prayer is not a strategem for occasional use, a refuge to resort to now and then.  It is rather like an established residence for the innermost self.  All things have a home: the bird has a nest, the fox has a hole, the bee has a hive.  A soul without prayer is a soul without a home.

“Weary, sobbing, the soul, after roaming through a world festered with aimlessness, falsehoods, and absurdities, seeks a moment in which to gather up its scattered life, in which to divest itself of enforced pretensions and camouflage, in which to simplify complexities, in which to call for help without being a coward.

“Such a home is prayer.  Continuity, permanence, intimacy, authenticity, earnestness are its attributes.  For the soul, home is where prayer is…To pray is to open a door where both God and the soul may enter.”

I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  (Mark 11:24)

I want to grow closer to You, Jesus.  Guide my mind, heart, and soul when I pray.