Do you have a prayer partner? It’s something I’d never considered until a dozen years ago. I’d hit a dead end in my prayer life and I realized I needed a little help. Yes, I tried to be consistent, reading a few psalms a day and closing my eyes and seeking a certain peace, but I also figured I should have someone I could talk to about what was working and…well, what wasn’t working.
That’s when my friend Arthur and I started having lunches every few months. Arthur is 20 years older than me and a good deal wiser and someone who’s always working at his own prayer life.
I don’t know what I expected when we had that first lunch, but what I’ve discovered is a long, abiding friendship. Because prayer encompasses all of life, we talk about everything—our kids, our marriages, our work, our health. And we laugh a lot too. I don’t think we look especially holy. The only rule is that we talk about how we’re doing when we pray.
Arthur is the one who gave me words to a prayer that I say every day, it’s an ancient text going back centuries: “Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me. Make haste to help me. Rescue me and save me. Let thy will be done in my life.”
No matter where I am, no matter how disjointed I feel, the words help me focus my thoughts. That was his gift to me. His gift to hundreds of other people, I daresay. His other gift is an understanding that to pray for others is to love them and when you grow in prayer you grow in love.
Arthur and I had lunch today. Can you guess? It was a good day.
Rick Hamlin is the executive editor at GUIDEPOSTS.
