My Healing and Praying Places

See this pool. It is my daily (except Sunday) place of therapy for my mind, spirit, and body. The aggressive daily 3-mile walking marathons took their toll on this young body, so my new plan of action takes me to the pool. Thankfully, I’m able to swim laps — great therapy and the aching legs are so much better. We are under strict Covid guidelines, but it is working well. Only five of us can be in the pool at any one time and we must sign up for the time slots we want. It is working well for me.

Praying while swimming is not so easy because I must be so intentional with staying in my lane, staying in proper form, breathing, etc. But I came up with a solution. I try to get in 10 laps before stopping to do some water aerobics, then 10 more laps, more aerobics and then 10 more laps – 30 in total. But, I was losing count on my laps. So I came up with a way to pray and count. I repeat this prayer: Lap one & two – “Lord, I praise YOU” over and over for the two laps; Three & four – “Lord, I desire MORE (of You)”; Five & six – “Lord, please FIX me (my wrong thinking, acting, etc. – my repentance); Seven & eight – “I lay aside the WEIGHTS (the pressures, the burdens, the fears); Nine & ten – “Lord, I’m going for the WIN (to finish my race strong). Praying those little repetitions not only keeps me on point in my laps, but I’m intentionally praying.

Do you have a place of prayer or way of prayer that works well for you? I’ve found that the space and place to pray isn’t near as important as having an ongoing conversation with God no matter where we are. Most important is my inner space where I can more easily access God throughout my day. Where and when we pray, what our prayer space looks like and the materials we use that help us in our prayer life often overwhelms us. We think we have to be in a particular state of mind and a particular state of being. We have formalized our time with God (yes, it’s important to have times when we are not distracted from our one-on-one, set-aside time to be fully present to God).

But, I’ve found that I’m not restricted to place, space, and time when it comes to my conversations with God. We have time together in my car, while shopping, doing housework and office work and in meetings with others. I heard a minister say I don’t pray for more than fifteen minutes at a time, but I don’t go fifteen minutes without praying. Praying is acknowledging God at all times. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In ALL YOUR WAYS, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6) THAT, is living and abiding with our best friend daily. He walks with us, talks with us and assures us we are His own. Perhaps that’s what He wants from us – to walk (and swim) with Him, talk with Him and tell Him how much He means to us and out of that prayer relationship – we’ll see answers to our prayers just because that’s the way fathers want to bless their kids – out of that relationship we have with them.