By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer
As a child, I used to dream of flying on a magic carpet. Little did I understand back then, that prayer can actually become somewhat like a magic carpet, first elevating us and then somehow carrying us to God. And just as amazing as flight to God, as subtle motion of prayer, is the equally amazing sense that we have not really moved at all, that we have strangely arrived at where we already were, but did not know it. This time, however, we are not alone, as we sense God’s approving presence.
Prayer will slowly reveal to us our unique, private yet shared space with God, already in place from the moment of our birth. It is as if God planned out our entire future, our coming time to be alone with God, at the very instant of our creation. How God can wrap our farthest tomorrow right into our initial beginning of today, is an unfathomable mystery. But then, so is God, and likely will remain so forever.
Individual prayer will ever remain a private mystical mystery. Such prayer has been called “The flight of the alone to the alone.” It is as deeply personal as anything in our lives. Thus does Jesus instruct: “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
There are innumerable aspects of personal prayer. One that has haunted me for decades is how close prayer is to flying a magic carpet. So I offer a meditation which summarizes my progressive prayer history with God. You will note that what began as a seemingly small slice of space, evolved into an immeasurable expanse, since wherever God is, there also is infinity.
Prayer is as an unseen carpet, though not at its beginning, but only as you stay on it, persevering through its moods and colorations.
At first prayer may seem like a narrow patch of grass on which to merely sit, for a verbal releasing, whether the sun is shining bright with glad rays of hope and faith, or hiding behind projected clouds of doubt or despair, anguish, or anger.
Yet if you remain in prayer, granting it time to enter the invisible space prayer provides, that lowly patch of prayer grass, will transition into a vehicle meant for flight.
Better still, prayer will at last be grasped for what it truly is: a magic carpet, designed from above to take you where it wills, to unmask heavenly sights and sounds, tastes and touches.
Prayer’s magic carpet will lift you to sacred space reserved for you alone, as your personal abode of being in relationship with God.
Prayer’s comforting carpet will take you to where you secretly already are, which upon arriving you will find is your destined space to share with God.
If you pray this meditation, over time you may experience a holy “lift off.” And inexplicably, you will fly to where you secretly already are, hidden from the world with God.
(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of Pray This Way to Connect with God. You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
