SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO PRAY
( Matthew 6:5-14 )
by Stan Paregien
Copyrighted 1991
I confess it is often hard for me
To just get down on bended knee,
Or to even set a prayer time each day,
When other matters stand in the way.
Deep within I seem to harbor doubt
As to whether God will work it out
The way I think it really ought to be,
Though I know He sees things I cannot see.
Sometimes I wait until late at night
And pray when I turn out the light.
But more times than I care to admit,
My heart just isn't in tune with it.
Prayer for me is even harder still
When sometimes I've been rude or shrill.
But my soul is refreshed, no less,
After I've confessed my daily mess.
Sometimes I feel like a pagan babbling long,
Though to my Father the words may be a song.
So I keep praying for His will to be done,
And for bread to eat at each rising sun.
I tearfully beg Him to forgive my debts, too,
As I forgive those whose debts to me are overdue.
I admit that to resist temptation is no fun,
And He tells me how to escape the Evil One.
Often when I read Jesus' words* I feel fine;
I haven't prayed in a synagogue for a time.
And I wouldn't pray on a street corner to be seen of man,
No, not for all the tea leaves in ol' Japan.
But then I look deeper inside me and I find,
Prayers at church sorta sound like that kind.
Sometimes I address the people, not our God,
And that no doubt strikes the Lord as odd.
So, Almighty God, help me when I pray
To truly believe you will show me the way.
And when words are hard for me to say,
Help me, Lord, that much harder to pray.
*Based on Matthew 6:5-14. Written at Snyder, Texas on Nov. 18, 1991.
This material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted
or performed without the written permission of the author.
