The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on January 12, 2022 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
Despite conventional tastes, the sense of prayer as boring is a good thing.
If prayer is boring, it likely indicates that we are being faithful to our prayer, for the sake of prayer itself, and not for our own benefit or delight. This does not mean that prayer is never fun, interesting, or surprising. But, when prayer is generally boring, we are less likely trying to make things happen in our prayer, and more likely to let God be the one who surprises or delights us.
Then, when God has become the mover of our delight, the natural contrast to the usual boring taste of prayer becomes so sweet that we are renewed and refreshed in our commitment to pray. When we burden ourselves with trying to delight, we become exhausted rather than renewed. Best to keep on with boring!
