My prayer life

Describe your own prayer life.

I pray through my spoken and unspoken words, both formalized forms from siddurim as well as informal forms. Sometimes spontaneous, sometimes planned. I pray with music. I pray by singing. I pray when I chant in Hebrew or in English or sometimes in a language unknown to me, as the experience of the chant moves my spirit to move my lips. 

Long have I loved praying with the Psalms. I pray with silence, for even Psalm 65 begins, L’cha dumiyah t’hilah Elohim b’Tzion, “To You, G!d in Zion, silence is prayer.” I pray with the lifting of my hands and the lighting of incense and smudge, as Psalm 141 says, Tikon t'filati, kitoret lifanecha, mas'at kapei minchat arev.

I pray with my native drums. I have prayed with Sacred Pipe on sacred land, and I have prayed in teepees and sweat lodges and within the protective circle of vision quests. I have prayed with body movements to the powerful drums and voices of a shamanic drumming circle and the drums of a Sufi peace circle. I have prayed with the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in their monastery, and I have prayed with Snatam Kaur and her beautiful Sikh chants.

I have prayed the desperate mental prayer of “Please, G!d, make it stop!” when I suffered abuse at the hands of a cruel man, and I have prayed from the state of absolute bliss in a moment of transcendent awareness. I have prayed with my thoughts, and with my actions. I have prayed in a moment of tenderness in my heart at hearing of suffering or loss in the world, or in the life of my best friend. I pray with my tears and I pray with my laughter.

I pray with my knitting and I pray with my writing. I pray with everything I create, even as I prepare and cook food. I pray with the tears that sometimes pour forth from my daily journaling, and I pray with my laughter and the fun I have with friends. 

I pray when I am engaged in study, when I am at service in the synagogue, when I teach, and when I learn Hebrew. I pray through the High Holy Day services, and I pray during the ordinary moments. I pray when I meditate, and when I am stuck in traffic or in a long line at the store. I even pray in my dreams and if I awaken at 3am.

I pray with my heart, with my soul, with my mind, and with my whole being. Prayer is my first thought in the morning and my last thought before sleep overtakes me. I pray when I do something kind, unselfish, thoughtful, and even as small as giving away a smile in the grocery store. I also pray when I am selfish or make a mistake, asking for guidance and help in making things right.

I pray with a walk through nature, and at the sight of the ocean. I pray with every fiber of my being. 

My prayer life can best be described with the sentence, “Ani t’filah.” (I am prayer.) 

Prayer is simply who I am and what I do and what I think. All of it is prayer. My life is a prayer. 

The key is in being aware that all of it is prayer.