Today, May 2, is National Day of Prayer in the United States.
Two of my favorite statements regarding prayer are by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. She begins the preface of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures this way: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings.” Then, on page 12 of the same volume, the author speaks of Jesus, “… whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth,—of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love.” Truth and Love are scriptural names or synonyms for God.
I’ve always loved that phrase “deep and conscientious protests of Truth” as a way of thinking about prayer. It elevates the activity of prayer for me. Prayer may start out as a petition or request that asks God for something, but that is really just a warm-up for the main event as thought moves quickly to a “deep and conscientious protest of Truth.” This protest is a grateful acknowledgment of what God is, has, and does as divine Love, and what I am, have, and do by virtue of an inviolate relationship with God, Love.
