How does one pray always in a state of increasing chaos?

The storm is raging.

Vice is oozing out all over.

Satan has left off prowling thanks to a steady buffet of willing souls who foolishly believe there’s a party in the pits of hell.

And while Christians may not be of the world, we’re neck deep in it until we’re called home. The demands of husband, wife, kids, home, careers, extended family, church, and community are ever present. Satan is having a heyday keeping the elect spun up with ongoing scandal, both inside and outside the home.

Once trusted institutions are falling into shadows at alarming rates. Masks are off. The more jaded of us may have adopted an attitude of disgust that borders on indifference. But come on. What can we do anyway?

Pray!

From the heart.

That’s the only answer.

It’s a small thing and maybe why we often leave off praying because we believe ourselves capable of bigger things. Like changing global weather patterns–global warming anyone? Honk if you remember the second ice age scare of the seventies. Good grief.

But Jesus is in our rocking boat. He may seem to be sleeping, but God never sleeps. If the Lord did catch a wink, he was likely plagued with nightmares of his willful children’s ongoing antics. Loving does that. I almost long for baby days. A cuddle, dry diapers, a wee jar of Gerber, and we’re done. I’d trade being sleepy for feeling utterly powerless.

God has the power, however. We only need to seek it. And one doesn’t have to kneel beside one’s bed to reach God. Elaborate soliloquies aren’t necessary, and neither is a chapel in the woods. Simply lifting one’s heart to Him will suffice. Words are often superfluous as he reads our hearts clearer than we do.

Working and praying is the best. We do our part. God does his. Praying makes work light. It soothes the spirit. Grasping the fullness of who Almighty God is and who we aren’t is the surest way to find that calm.

So, set your intentions. I praise you Lord with every sock I wash, every report I read, each paper I grade. Every time I pick the kids up from school is a song of praise. I trust you with ever step I take today.

Wrap you mind around the reality that God is everywhere. He’s listening. He’s waiting much like we wait when those we love wander far.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen had this to say back in the day: “It is better to pray badly than not to pray at all. As Chesterton once wrote: ‘If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing badly. We may not breathe properly, but it’s is a good idea to keep breathing.”

The idea? Just DO IT! Pray. Always. It’s a little thing, but that’s what God has asked of us. This from the woman who used to fret about not breathing properly. No kidding.