Prayer 2

Prayer 2

[Daniel] prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

Daniel 6:10

One of the joys of my life is spending time one-on-one with other women. Sometimes we walk and sometimes we sit in one another’s kitchens or living rooms with a cup of coffee or a glass of water. This particular day, though, I was sitting in a restaurant having lunch with a friend.

When our meals were served, my friend and I bowed our heads while I thanked God for the food and our friendship. For the next hour or so, we enjoyed our meals and the shared conversation. While we were finishing up with a cup of coffee, a woman leaving the restaurant walked past our table, looked at me, and asked, “Are you a minister?” I smiled and said, “No, I’m not, but why do you ask?” “Well,” she said, “I saw you praying before you ate, and I figured that you must be a minister!” My response to her was something like, “We were thanking God for the food and for our time together.”

As the woman continued on her way, I sensed that our prayer was a positive, though surprising, phenomenon to her. Reflecting on that brief interchange, I realized that bowed heads and closed eyes are often signals to other people that we are talking to God. The challenge for all of us is to make sure that—as Daniel 6:10 expresses—the posture of our prayer reflects the gratitude to God we’re experiencing on the inside.

God,

Thanks for people like Daniel who challenge us to pray regularly and often. We need you, and we’re grateful we can talk to you. In the name of Jesus, amen.