Rhythms of Our Lives: Approaching God in Prayer

From the Introduction

In prayer, it's only you and God. Maybe that's what scares you about prayer. You go to church Sunday morning, thinking there is strength in numbers in going before God. Wrong! Even in the congregation of the faithful, it's still between you and God.

God has already started a conversation with you. Didn't you hear? Remember, God came to Elijah not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in fire, not in any earthly cataclysmic event, but in "a still, small voice." (1 Kings 19:12, KJV; NRSV translates "a sound of sheer silence"). We need not only to listen TO God, but to listen FOR God.

LABYRINTHS. Labyrinths have been known in history for at least 4,000 years and were prominent in Greek mythology. Today, the tradition of walking the labyrinth is being reclaimed, just as is praying the hours. 

Walking the labyrinth and praying the hours are two sides of the same coin of allowing ourselves to grow closer to God. They can be done separately or together. I encourage you to find a labyrinth close to you, walk it, and allow yourself to be totally engaged in your own spiritual journey. Write down your observations.

A good example is the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France, built in the 11th Century, and often copied. Thousands of people walk it, and hundreds of similar ones, each year. I urge you to seek out one near you: walk it and pray it.