Q: Many times it seems easier to pray for others than to pray for ourselves. How can I consistently pray for myself, and how important is it to do so?
A: Praying for oneself might be compared to a mechanic who keeps his own car tuned up so he can get to work to help others every day; or a teacher who keeps herself informed in order to instruct others. Prayer for ourselves makes it possible to pray for others effectively.
Mary Baker evidently considered praying for oneself to be so imperative that she made it an urgent request: "One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importunately. When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father–Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone,—but more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it the 'river of His pleasure,' the tributary of divine Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow,—even that joy which finds one's own in another's good" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 127).
