By . Llewellyn Drong
Baha’i Faith
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I recently heard a good description of prayer. Someone said "I am a child of God, and I like to phone home regularly." This witty but poignant description of prayer life points up the reality of God as a loving, concerned and involved Parent. It also points up the responsibility that lies upon us to do our part to stay in touch. As God’s children, we are the ones who go out into the world to build our lives and strive to make something of ourselves, but the world must not be permitted to crowd out that love of our Parent.
It is our responsibility to recall where we came from. This is not just a question of geography or biology or "nature and nurture". It is a question of the spirit and the heart. It becomes a question of "phoning home" not just out of duty, but out of a deep desire. When we pray, it is inadequate to toss off a prayer with a superficial conviction and mere mouthing of words. That is like the impersonal "excuse me" when working our way through a crowd of strangers we have no personal connection to. In that situation, we expect no response and seldom get one. Prayer can become like that. But prayer should be deeper than that. It is heartfelt. It is an earnest offering of our thoughts to a Being we constantly strive to know more about and yearn to hear from. And when we are sincere, and patient, and honest, we know there is a response and we will get that response somewhere, somehow, if we take the time to listen.
For more information log on to www.bahai.us/bahai-temple
The Unity in the Community Project was first started in August of 2006 at a Unity in the Community meeting at the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing located in East Lansing, MI. It was a project created by the Publisher, Rina Risper to see how different or similar answers were to the same question about healing, prayer and religion. The New Citizens Press welcomes answers to “What is prayer, and what results do you expect from it?” send us an e-mail at tncp@comcast.net or write us. Please also send us a picture and your denomination.