Reflection on Prayer:
"Prayer, though, is not simply about a connection to the divine, but also about us."
- Bruce Benson, The Phenomenology of Prayer
As someone who came into this class without the deep philosophical background of many of my colleagues, this opening though really spoke to my heart when I read it. Honestly, I view myself as a rather simple man with simple ideas and motives. Life for me is not very hard or complex... most of the time. Moreover, this simple phrase, arguably that many simply read over and agree with, immediately pricked my heart.
You see, for years, I spent my prayer time focusing on my needs and my wants. My prayer life rejected the needs of those around me, and often forgot that God has a greater plan for my life. However, it was not until my Dad walked out on my family that I began realizing that I was praying all wrong. For me, I had always thought that prayer was to simply petition God. After petitioning Him, he would either reject or grant my petitions. In some way I viewed God much like Santa Claus. My Fathers departure led me on a spiritual journey that would develop me much deeper than I could have imagined.
I began realizing that I could not view God in the manner that I had done so easily before. Almost instantly, I began thinking of the needs other than my own and began actually having a conversation of my own with God directly. As Benson notes, prayer became about God working through me. I realized that my connection to God could not simply be one-directional. As the first chapter of The Phenomenology of Prayer argues, prayer should begin to "decenter" us.
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