I recently viewed the newest Nooma video entitled “Open”. At 4:00 AM on a night before a 7 hour day of classes, I sat enthralled to the screen, transcribing his thoughts and words so that I could reflect on them, with his emotion and the beautiful music aside. I broke it down to myself and his words, nothing else. I’ve prayed since I was a young child. My perception of my prayers has been changed many times. From the early stages of my life reciting memorized Catholic prayers to the days of high school where I tended to speak as if I was reciting a work of art rather than a conversation with my Creator. Here I am, seized into a college lifestyle that exhausts me on a daily basis, with the tendency of prayer until I find a close relationship with the backs of my eyelids each late evening (otherwise known as early morning).

Is it strange to pray for your prayers? As I sat there at my bed, I prayed for the many things on my heart. I rejoiced because of the community around me and the relationships instilled in my life. I praised Him for stumbling across something that sparked so many thoughts at such a strange hour. Praying out loud never seemed to be typical or even considered normal when I was by myself, but the most sincere honesty I have ever felt with God poured out in this moment. To find a prayer life so abundantly filled with His presence is what I seek. To humbly pray with His intentions in mind. Opening up in brutal honesty, seeking not what is of my good but according to His will. Through God creating me and you, He gave us a chance to take part in the creation process. He created us so that we may create more. It is our responsibility to determine what we are helping to create. Many time we say that God didn’t answer our prayers… But maybe we are the answers to our own prayers.

“May your whole life be a prayer and may you be honest with God as you become more and more open to your role in the ongoing creation of the world. “