Feb 19 2009 10:51 pm
Posted by pastorandy under spiritual discipline
The poem: A Terrible Prayer
I thought I’d post the poem that I shared with everyone on Sunday. I’ll link the book at the bottom. It’s a pretty neat book, a collection of thoughts about and writings on prayer that are what you would probably expect from a book titled, “Ragamuffin Prayers.”
What have your prayer journeys been like?
“A Terrible Prayer” by Mike Yaconelli
I have always been terrible at praying.
I forget.
My mind wanders.
I fall asleep.
I don’t pray enough.
I don’t understand what prayer is
or what prayer does.
If prayer were a school…
I would flunk praying.
But prayer isn’t school.
It is a mystery.
Maybe the mystery is…
Jesus loves terrible prayers.
Maybe…
When I can’t think of anything to say, He says what I can’t say.
When I talk too much, He cherishes my too many words.
When I fall asleep, He holds me in His lap and caresses my weary soul.
When I am overwhelmed with guilt at my inconsistent, inadequate praying
He whispers, “Your name is always on my lips.”
I am filled with gratitude, my soul overflows with thankfulness and I…
I… find myself saying over and over again, “Thank you.”
Praying the mystery.
Sam Clark on 
WKile on 
Seth on 
The Pulpiteer » Podcast: Shaped by Prayer on 22 Feb 2010 at 4:37 pm #
[...] I’ve posted the poem I read during the beginning of the sermon in an earlier post last year. You can find it here. I’m also putting up a link for one of the books I mentioned – the Phyllis Tickle book [...]
gmaseeker61
on 13 Mar 2010 at 11:59 pm #
After reading this Poem, I had to order it. The poem seems to fit so many of us that pray and wonder: “was that okay with God?” Thank you for sharing, and posting the amazon link, for $.14 hey best deal of the day for contents of this book.