Time Is The Prayer Lesson We Need To Be Taught

by Eric Elkin

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

— Luke 11:1

“Lord, teach us to pray.” Has this question ever crossed your mind? This morning I reflected on where I learned to pray, which did not require much effort. A prayer life was formed in my childhood with the classic bedtime prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” But I also realized I forgot the table grace we used to say before meals.

Do parents still teach their children those things? This seems like an embarrassing question for a pastor with my experience to ask. I assume parents who are intentional about faith development do. Still, I have no idea what the average bedtime routine is these days. Is it possible to develop a table grace routine when families are not eating many meals together?

Scripted children’s prayers are easy to learn. They are designed to be simple to memorize. But when did I make a transition to an adult prayer practice? Nothing against my parents, but I do not think I learned it from them. In our house, adult prayers were private. One did not “show” their prayer life as the hypocrites do. (mt 6:5). Yet, I know both of my parents did, in fact, pray adult prayers.

Years of living in an intentional Christian community taught me to pray. The forced discipline of taking time each day after supper to participate in a meditative prayer service taught me how to pray. When we left that community, developing a self-imposed discipline to pray was hard. Life gets really busy, and the house is too small to hide away to pray.

“If we would turn the time we spent discussing the other’s life into prayer time instead, no telling what would happen to the glory of God.”

— Beth Moore

Creating time to pray is the most challenging part of learning to pray. Finding time can be difficult in a culture that loves to be busy. A church member once told me the reflections I write are too long to read, and they don’t have the time to read them. According to Grammarly, the average weekly devotion is 525 words, which takes 2 minutes and 5 seconds to read.

Busyness is not actually determined by a defined number of hours worked or spent in activity. It is a “perception of the density of events and tasks to perform in one’s daily life.” Perception is a tricky monster to attack. In a culture where being too busy is a badge of honor, many people are afraid to appear inactive. They might be perceived as lazy.

Writing these thoughts got me thinking. People don’t need to learn the words to pray or how to hold their hands. They don’t even need to find a place. In the 21st Century, when disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray,” it is about learning to take the time to do it. And, if taking five minutes to pray is an impossible task, then you have just discovered your greatest need. Now you can ask for God’s help. That's what it means to pray.

Click to read Luke 11:1-13

Reflection Questions:

How did you learn to pray? If you did not, who can help you learn?
When did your prayers turn from child-like prayers to adult?
What do you find yourself praying for the most?
How do you create the time to pray? And, if you are not creating the time, what can you do to find the time?

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