“I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door.” – John Donne.
Sound familiar? It does to me. I pray every day throughout the day – giving thanks for a bit of good news over email, asking for patience when I can’t seem to get my daughter out the door and off to school, offering up “Lord, have mercy” when I see an ambulance pass by on the street. Prayer is an ongoing conversation with God, and we can pick up where we leave off. Yet, settling down into prayer and giving God our undivided attention for more than a few minutes is not always easy.
Despite our desire to be still and fully present to God, most of us experience some level of resistance to prayer at times. If this is true for you, look at what might be causing that resistance. It could be more than a busy schedule or difficulty focusing.
I once heard that the places where we are resistant to God are similar to the places where we are resistant to the closest person in our lives. Think about the parallels. Do you have trouble voicing your own needs? Are there things you don’t want to reveal about yourself? Are you afraid to hear what’s being asked of you so that you end up assuming what’s being asked of you? Whatever it is, go there in prayer. Offer that place of resistance to God and see what sort of invitation you get back. It might help those rattling coaches and whining doors fade into the background.
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