I wish I had entered the room just a few minutes earlier.  All I heard was the tail end of a conversation between my two granddaughters, Caitlin, who is 4 ½ and her cousin Scarlet who is 3 ½ years old.  I’m not sure what sparked the conversation, but Caitlin was reassuring Scarlet with this simple but profound truth:

            “Scarlet, you can’t see God, but you can talk to Him and He will listen.”

My heart skipped a beat.  With one simple statement she had defined genuine prayer.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of books have been written about prayer – how to pray, when to pray, where to pray.  Many of these books inspired by the Holy Spirit reveal important truths and strategies that enrich our times of prayer.  We are blessed that Jesus shared a pattern for prayer with his disciples that we know as the Lord’s Prayer.  In his letters to the Early Christian churches, the Apostle Paul provides powerful insight regarding prayer. 

But there is a danger:  when we find ourselves embracing what we have learned and then focusing more on the eloquence of our words, the precise application of patterns and strategies for prayer, than on the One who listens to our prayers.

Prayer isn’t talking about God or talking at God.  Prayer isn’t about using certain words or phrases, certain patterns or strategies.  We may use them and they can be helpful, but they aren’t the essence of prayer.  

With one simple statement of faith, Caitlin parsed all the information and knowledge of learned theologians, all the words of instruction and strategies for intercession into a simple definition of uncluttered prayer. 

                        Talk to God and He will listen.