When I was in third grade, my teacher asked each student in our class to draw a pie chart to illustrate how much time we each thought we spent on various activities throughout our day. Before drawing the charts, though, we first generated, as a class, a list of possible activities we could choose to include in our charts. Among the list of activities we generated, which included eating, reading, and playing outside, was the activity of praying.
I stared at the blank circle on my paper for some time, puzzling over how to squeeze prayer—an activity that I’d learned in Christian Science Sunday School was ongoing—into a slice of pie on my chart. Finally, I chose a bright yellow marker to represent prayer and used it to outline my entire circle!
The idea of praying without ceasing is referred to in the Bible (see I Thessalonians 5:17), but this activity might seem overwhelming if we think of prayer as a ritual or as specific words that we must say out loud all day. Or, even if we understand prayer as a deep, truly heartfelt communion with God, remaining in such a state throughout our day might seem impossible to many of us.
