I don't know about you, but I have an incredibly active prayer life when I'm hip deep in trouble. "Lord, I need you now." And I'm not so bad when something awesome knocks me back a step. "Wow! That's cool."

But when things are ok – not bad or good, simply there – so am I. Here I am. God knows I'm here. I know God is here, but I don't have much to say.

I don't have much to say because I really don't know what to say.

Apparently, I'm not the only one. My husband spotted this problem at our church prayer meetings. "Do you remember that great children's message about how to pray? The steps spelled out pray or palm or something like that."

I couldn't remember the acronym, but I did remember that it was one of the lessons Pastor Jeff taught the Cub Scouts when they were working on their religious emblem. And if it worked for a bunch of wiggly, fussy boys, it might even work for a bunch of distracted, forgetful adults.

The acronym is P-A-T-H. Get it? Prayer is your path to God? Clever! All you have to do is remember the initials and go through them step by step.

P – Praise. First things first, give your praise to God. Reflect on just how fabulous the Creator is.

A – Apology. You may not have done anything huge, but if you are anything like me, some days are just a series of short-comings and bad choices. Now is the time to unload some of this before the One who promises to forgive.

T – Thanks. All good things come from God. All that we are, that we have, and that we can hope for is from Him.
Give Thanks!

H – Help. Even if you don't have any big problems today, there is always something. What problems does someone else have? What low key issue would you like help with if you didn't feel it was a waste of important prayer power?

Take time to come to God even when things aren't horrible or splendid. Pray four steps at a time. When the day does come that you need your prayers to do some heavy lifting, you'll have developed the muscle for the job.

Today has been kind of low key,
nothing much going on.
Still, I see your work
all around me.
In the intricacies
of tendon and muscle and nerve
that enable my hands to work.
In the complexity
of sun and water
that supports life
on this complicated planet.
You are truly in all.
Me? I am truly in awe.

-SueBE