I'm not a religious person. Like I mentioned to a newfound friend recently, I'm more spiritual than religious. But I do read the Bible almost daily, insightfully aided by The Bible for Dummies. I read something in it today that really touched me...

A person can say a prayer in so many words, sometimes to the point of blabbering. In the end, there's no point at all... just a whole lot of favors he wants to ask and the blabber is an attempt to justify why he deserves the favors (o di ba?... aminin!...). I always believed that if there is indeed an omnipotent God (redundant?... okay, okay... but I promise I'm not blabbering), He would know what I really need... deep in my heart... and that I wouldn't have to ask. But I've been told time and again to ask anyway. Most of the time I just stare into nothingness... knowing very well what I want to say but not quite knowing how to say it. Oftentimes, like punching the keys on the keyboard in a haste only to stop abruptly, able to say only as much as 'Dear God...' and nothing more, I make the sign of the cross... and that, to me, would have been a prayer in itself. I still believe He knows though... and this proves me true.

'... Often we feel like J.D., not knowing what words to say. But we still come to God with our need because our confidence lies not in ourselves nor in our intercession, but in the Holy Spirit. He hears and knows our hearts, but He also hears and knows the heart of God the Father. George MacDonald wrote, "Father,... look deep, yet deeper, in my heart, and there, beyond what I know, read Thou the prayer."

'God's Spirit takes our inadequate prayers, breathes into them the Father's will, and turns them into meaningful requests. Although we may not get what we thought we wanted, we will receive God's best, for our Prayer Partner knows our deepest needs.

Sometimes I do not pray in words -
I take my heart in my two hands
And hold it up before the Lord -
I am so glad He understands

Why put it down here? It's not to preach... anybody who knows anything about me at all would certainly be dumbfounded if I did. But sometimes something so pure and true comes to you it mesmerizes... a scene, a face, a thought... some words... so simple, so meek that it holds you still.

You just got to do something about it.