When You Don't Know What to Pray

Some mornings, we wake up too tired to pray — too depleted to find the words, too tempted by the noise of the world to settle into silence. This meditation begins there, in that honest, exasperated place, and offers a simple ancient practice: a breath prayer drawn from a hymn. Speak, Lord, I love to listen to your voice. See, Lord, here I am. Rather than striving to pour out what we don't have, we simply open — and invite. Through gentle breathwork and extended silence, you'll practice returning your attention to God's presence, not just in the meditation itself, but as an orientation you can carry into the rest of your day — in moments of boredom, frustration, or testing. A quiet, unhurried practice for anyone seeking to stay present to the sacred in ordinary life.

Transcript

There are many mornings when I wake up and. . . I'm too tired to pray. I fear that if I. . . Maybe sit in quiet meditation that I will fall asleep and I have. And then there's the temptation to reach for my phone and solve Wordle for the day. Or even Watch the latest rant on YouTube. Some other platform that. . . That bursts some of the rage and outrage that might be seeking an outlet seeking a host body such as mine. And so the other day I woke up and. . . And I sort of. . . I just was exasperated. I just don't know what to pray. I just don't know what to think. I don't know what to do. And I recall the hymn that we used to sing in church. And it's very very simple it's just Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. See Lord, Here I am. So rather than outpouring our hearts which may be too tired to express themselves adequately we ask God to Speak to us. And so we say to ourselves, Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. So it's an invitation. And then extending that to saying see Lord, Here I am. So join with me. And so as you inhale, Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. See Lord. Here I am. Take a deep breath again. Open the shoulders. Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. See Lord. Here I am. Breathing again. Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. See, Lord, Here I am. Speak, Lord. I love to listen to your voice. See Lord, Hear our am. And just keep repeating that to yourselves for a few moments. Maybe a few times you can pause. And enter into that silence. What's nice about just very short prayers like these. Is and that we can remember them throughout the day so that We. . . Can pause or anytime we find ourselves bored. We can. . . Turn to that. And so we're kind of returning our minds to being present to God. And that's really what we want to continually do. We start our day and hopefully end our day with you know, That those beautiful sources. And hopefully keep those in mind as we go about the rest of our day and as we interact with others, As we get tried and tested. We keep our minds open, We think. Where is the Lord speaking here? Where can I be present for God? In this situation. And that keeps our minds and hearts open to God's presence everywhere. And it can be a lovely state if we just always remind ourselves. To turn. To keep looking, To keep being present.