The children asked, "What is unceasing prayer?
What did Paul mean in Thessalonians,
'Pray without ceasing'? How can we do that?
And when we pray," they pressed, as children will,
Not giving one a chance at explanation
Till they've poured out all that troubles them
In one great urgent question ... "When we pray,
How can we tell that what we think is right,
Is really God's directing?"
I suggested,
"Could you think of prayer as something like
The sonar graph on ships that travel coastwise?
You remember how a jagged line
Creeps up and down across a moving chart.
That line records the distance rays must go
To reach the ocean bottom and return."
A boy inserted quickly, all delight,
"And don't forget the schools of fish it shows."
We laughed.
