24hrsAday

Do You Start Your Day With Prayer? Just Looking To See Comments on This Very Important (IMHO) Practice! if i Forget To First Thing.. i Try To Do it Later..

CarolD

Yes morning prayer is part of my daily life....

During the day I often connect...usually with a Thank You.
Bedtime....I do my nightly inventory ..end with prayer.

I'm a strong believer in the power of prayer.

24hrsAday

Thanks Carol.. Me Too!

Astro

Sometimes, I just wish I were more consistent about it. There's a good technique I've heard called the ""AA roll". Just roll out of bed and hit your knees.

I always start my day by reading a devotional and also from the Bible.

24hrsAday

it Does Take Some Discipline Astro But it's Sooo Worth it!

yeahgr8

I pray in the morning, if i forget i pray on the way to work, i don't think that God has designated the side of my bed as the only conduit for me to communicate with him nor on my knees.

That said i do try and get on my knees morning and night, sometimes at night i am half asleep so i just clap my hands together and pray lying down.

I pray during the day saying thanks, and also if i have anything that i cannot handle myself i imagine handing it to God and he takes it and gives it back to me when the time is right...

It really works and is the most important thing in my sobriety, everyday sober is a gift from Him, even my sponsor says yeah but remember you did the work...i don't care i am sober through His grace and nothing else...

I have learned also recently to pray as it comes to me and have stopped using my usual scripted prayers, i do include my piece about character defects as i like it but mostly for what is on my mind at that moment and i never ever pray for myself, if i am to ask for something it must benefit other people more than me:-)

But that's just me!

sev

Yes, and since I've started it has changed my life in such incredible ways. It was hard to put down the pride and pick up the humility....

But that's just me

Music

For a long time I did a morning thingy where I read some type of AA literature and then had a prayer and meditation period. At some point I realized that prayer is done in a lot of ways. When I wish for someone, or ask something for someone or hope for someone whether I'm in the car, on the job or whatever, I it's prayer and God hears it. I find myself aware of God a lot these days so I'm talking to Him a lot. Mostly I just ask for His will to be done in my life, or in the life of a friend or loved one. I try to not ask for specific things because to me, that says I know better than God what I need or what the other person needs. I try mostly to just keep it simple.

freya

I find that I am a creature of habit, so things work best for me if I somehow fit them into stuff I already do on a daily basis.

So, I pray literally when I first open my eyes in the morning -- before I even get out of bed. This is just a short thank-you-for-this-day-and-use-me-as-You-will kinda prayer. Then I have a series of prayers and short, centering meditations that I've worked into my workout.

At some point in the AM, I also do my daily readings -- always from 24 Hours and whatever other reader I am drawn to that morning -- and then I spend ~10 minutes in more like reflection/contemplation/meditation than prayer.

Then before I go to bed at night, I basically give a quick "Thank You" for some things I've been grateful for that day and then either do a long-form of my chakra meditation or say the rosary -- depending on how I'm feeling (rosary works better if for some reason I feel scattered or easily distractable).

As I've said elsewhere, I also do a short version of the chakra meditation during the day whenever I feel stress or disconnected and just need to take some time to center.

Since January, I've also found myself very often just kind of spontaneously saying a prayer/poem from the 17th Century British poet Goerge Herbert. I had memorized this poem during the first graduate course I ever took, because I thought it was very beautiful and clever/artful (i.e the "deceit" referred to in the poem). I had forgotten it for a long time, but somehow it came back to mind this January when I was working on my annual collage thing, and it just seems to feel very "right" to me at the moment:

A Wreathed garland of deserv-ed praise,
Of praise deserv-ed, unto Thee I give,
I give to Thee, who knowest all my ways,
My crooked winding ways, wherein I live --
Wherein I die, not live, for life is straight,
Straight as a line and ever tends to Thee,
To Thee, who art more far above deceit,
Than deceit seems above simplicitie.
Give me simplicitie, that I may live,
So live and love, that I may know Thy ways,
Know them and practice them, then shall I give
For this poore wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.

Don't know why, but I totally love that right now.

Also, I'm still working on (and, alternately avoiding working on) the public prayer thing -- for some reason very hard for me although I am doing it more...but mostly only with one particular friend. And, actually, my partner indicated recently that she woud be willing for us to try praying together -- which is something I have been really wanting for us to do but which also suddenly seems very scary.....which, of course, means we've got
to do it.

freya

sev

Music, me too! I also find if I am in the LEAST bit specific, or ask for anything, I will get it. For instance, I asked for patience. I got my husband's screaming ex wife! I won't be asking for patience again!!!

Kjell

Yes, I do. I try to pray every morning and if I forget, I pray when I get to work.

I also pray multiple times throughout the day - I close the bathroom door and sometimes I even get on my knees in there (magazines are a great buffer for the knees/floor!).

I don't think today would be my 89th day unless I was praying constantly.

least

I have had a problem with faith, and also prayer, but am blessed that I can now pray and believe there's Someone listening to me. I have been getting in the habit of praying at night to tell my gratitude for getting me thru the day sober, and again in the morning to thank Him for a good night's sleep and my dogs' continued good health. I find that now my faith is stronger, and I think it's because I've been praying and believing in the power of prayer.

What was it that St Augustine said? "Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand." I seem to have been going at it backwards most of my life...

intention

I learned the hard way how important prayer is after 7 years of recovery from another addiction, relapsing and becoming alcoholic. This time I have had to make a great deal of effort with my Step 11 to become disciplined, so that it becomes habitual. With practice is it becoming more natural for me to pray.

In the morning as soon as I turn off the alarm and before I even open my eyes, I pray "Good morning, God, I am powerless over alcohol and I cannot manage my life but I know you can, so God, I offer myself to Thee to build with me and do with me as Thou wilt etc..........."

I then follow the directions for Step 11 "On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead......"

When I get up I usually spend a quiet hour on my own in the house. This is gradually evolving and this morning it consisted of a number of daily meditation readings and a reading a chapter out of the BB. I am finding this quiet hour very enjoyable and beneficial.

During the day I pray regularly. One of my favourites is :-

"God I am feeling agitated/doubtful/frightened/rejected (or seeking approval) right now. Please help me to stop and remember that I made a decision to let You be my God. Give me the right thoughts and actions. Save me from fear, anger, worry, self-pity and foolish decisions and that Your will, not mine, be done"

Quite often my prayer can be as simple as "Are you sure you want me to do this, God?" and I usually get the answer back fairly quickly.

My spiritual malady was one of lacking in everything, so I also regularly say "thank you God for the abundance which continues to flow into my life."

I occassionally say the Serenity prayer.

I love the St Francis Prayer but have to read that one. I keep meaning to learn it.

During meetings I say this pray many times "Please God let me hear what You need me to hear and share what You need me to share, using Your voice".


I also say the Step 7 prayer when I inventory during the day and always say it last thing at night when I do my Step 11 nightly review when I get to "After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken"

One of our dogs was hospitalized at the weekend. She's been having seizures - she has heart failure - as bad as it gets - and could possibly have a brain tumour. I had to tell my 7 year old the other night that she may not be coming home and that the vets may not be able to fix her. She is his favourite dog (we have 4, another died last year).

Understandably he got very upset and I did something I had never done before, I told him that I found it very helpful to pray. So I tucked him in bed and we talked to God about our dog and asked him to look after her for us. She came home yesterday and we have carried on praying for her. Tonight we thanked God for letting us spend time with her today. My son is really being comforted by the prayer. Why I didn't think to talk to him about prayer before, I don't know......but it feels right now.

This is a great thread. I am enjoying reading about your prayer experiences.

freya

What a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing -- freya

intention

Thank you. I am emotional just thinking how my son responded to prayer.

If I am honest, I have not talked to people in the past (other than in 12 step fellowships) about my belief in God and spirituality because I have been embarrassed or felt awkward, so I just got into the habit of just keeping it private, even from my son.

Amazing how a very troubling time can bring about a wonderful change in my life (and his life).

I love the line "If you can't see God everywhere, you cannot see him anywhere"