Better late than never... Prayer Devo!

Shoot man... I'm a little late with this post! I will definitely be more on top of it in the future!!

I liked that this devo started off with the question "is prayer hard?" I had never thought about the difficultly or ease of prayer before and, honestly, I can't give this question a definite answer.  In my experience, the "idea" of prayer has been a lot more difficult than the "practice" of prayer. I grew up in the church and was taught that prayer was more of a way to talk at God, rather than conversing with God. I remember listening to my friends in Sunday school pray to God, asking Him for help and provisions. I kind of viewed these prayers as selfish, because it knew that God had already given us so much and I didn't like to ask Him for more. I wondered if this was all there was to prayer. Later in life, I began to discover how empty I felt after I prayed. It was easy to thank God for my dinner and ask Him to bless my family, but I never felt moved or inspired after praying. Since high school, God has been teaching me that, a lot of the time, prayer is not any more difficult than talking to yourself. I don't know about you, but I do this a lot. I analyze, wonder and dream about all sorts of things through out my day, and I have learned to involve God in this dialogue. I find it so simple to do most of the time, and I realize how much more in tune I am with my surroundings and my thoughts when I invite God into it all.
Then again, maybe He doesn't need to be invited into it. Maybe He is the one inviting me into His world, His wonder and His joys. In John 15:4-5, Jesus says "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." I like that this verse starts with Him telling us that we need to make the first move and realize that, apart from Him, we can literally do nothing. He is telling us that we need make a conscious effort, every day, to see things the way He sees them. I think this definitely becomes easier day by day, as we grow in our relationship with God when we talk with Him And that is what prayer is! A conversation between you and God.  I think people get too caught up in what they say to God and make sure that it is "good enough" for Him to listen to. But, I truly believe that God just wants us to talk with him about anything and everything. He wants to hear about the good, bad, funny and sad moments of our day and about the joys and struggles of our lives. I love the way that Saint Marcella spoke about prayer, saying that "The best prayer is what's in your heart. Take what's there and offer it. It doesn't matter if you are desperate or angry. The Lord will hear you." I cling to this piece of wisdom, trying to always remember to have conversations with God and make sure that I listen to Him just as He listens to me.