Praying in Public

I pray in restaurants. It is a practice I learned in childhood, and I have consciously embraced it as an adult.

In certain circumstances, I feel awkward doing so. On some occasions, I even decide not to do it--for example, when I am with folks who might find it unsettling after they have started on their salad for me to stop the conversation for a silent prayer. But in the vast majority of occasions when I eat in a restaurant, I bow my head to pray before taking my first bite.

A Christian friend once asked me about it. "Isn't it a bit artificial to do that kind of thing? I mean, sitting in a booth at Burger King, with noisy kids running around--can you really get yourself into a praying mood?"

My answer was that I seldom find myself in a praying mood while sitting in a restaurant. But I typically don't pray because I am feeling especially "spiritual." If I had to wait for those moods to set in, I would not pray very often! Indeed, it is precisely because the praying mood doesn't come naturally to me that I make it a habit to pray in restaurants.

My restaurant prayers are opportunities for me to pause and remind myself that there is indeed a God whose mercy reaches out to me even when I am sitting in a Burger King booth with noisy kids running past me. I don't need to be in any special kind of mood to give myself that kind of reminder.

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