Where Do You Fit In Daily Prayer?

Christi Braschler offers a simple prayer solution for the busiest moms.

Daily prayer has always been a struggle for me. Like many moms, I’m busy. I take care of the house, the meals, the shopping, the appointments, and I work part time. My schedule is pretty full. At 5 PM I don’t go home from work; since I work from home, I change gears and start the night shift, as I like to call it. 

When I do have a rare opening in my schedule it’s immediately filled with something else that comes up. Someone gets sick, I forgot to iron uniform shirts, someone forgot something they need at school, and so on. 

Where do you fit in daily prayer? 

For us moms who are new to practicing the faith, this almost seems impossible. Until you realize that there is more than one way to pray. Just like there is more than one way to fold a shirt, there is more than one way to dedicate time to God. 

In his book Prayer for Beginners, Peter Kreeft talks about how prayer can be as simple as talking to God. 

Just conversing. 

That’s it. 

That’s the prayer.

God wants our words because they are ours. They come from our heart and our heart is what he wants because our heart is all we can give him. You cannot give Him the heart of a great saint until you become one and you become one only by giving him your heart. (Peter Kreeft, in Prayer for Beginners)

When you look at it this way, prayer becomes not just important, but imperative.

I find this form of prayer to be pretty simple and straightforward and alleviates the pressures of feeling like I have to find a way to fit formal prayer into my days, which is not always an option for me. If I’m in a chapel praying in silence, it means I’ve somehow managed to slip out of the house undetected. Then, it’s only a matter of time before a search party is put together so that I can be found to gather snacks for everyone. 

The other nice thing about conversational prayer is that I’ve developed pretty good skills when it comes to talking to myself. Most of the time no one listens to me anyway, so I’m almost always talking to myself in one form or another. If a mom talks in the kitchen but no one is listening, is she really talking?

Husband: “Why are you talking to yourself?”

Me: “I’m not, I’m talking to God.”

Him:

Me: “It was about you—how much did you hear?”

Click to tweet:
Just start talking. That's it. That's the prayer.#catholicmom

What other perks are there to conversational prayer? 

1. It’s easy.
2. You’re still connecting with God.
3. It feels less daunting (sometimes formal prayer requires a place and time and we don't always have that, so prayer gets kicked to the side).
4. It can help you process and talk-through hard times.
5. It's a continual prayer with no limits. You can talk as much as you want about whatever you want.
6. You can talk the second you need to talk.
7. There is no rush to be finished and get back home.
8. You can do it while folding laundry.
   
   Fun fact: If you wait long enough to do your laundry, you can turn it into a full Rosary. Socks make great substitutes for rosary beads and when you finish each Hail Mary you can launch the sock across the room into the basket.
   
   
9. God is the safest place to vent because God is not a gossip.
10. God understands and appreciates you. Because God knows you better than you know yourself, so whatever you have to say is always welcome.

I find that conversational prayer leaves with me a level of peace I don’t get when I talk to, or complain, to friends or my husband, or the cat. Let’s face it, the cat’s a great listener but she doesn’t make it a secret that she could care less. Especially when she gets up and leaves mid-conversation.

Not exactly a morale booster.

If you're struggling to find time for “formal” prayer, maybe set your sights on more realistic goals. Maybe a Rosary or a novena once a month—and every day, try and teach yourself to talk to God as you go about your chores or your errands and activities. Tell Him how you feel. It doesn’t have to be interesting. But, once you start talking, it almost always leads from something seemingly unimportant to much, much deeper and more meaningful conversations. 

So, where do you fit in daily prayer? 

Right now. 

Just start talking. 

That’s it. 

That’s the prayer.

Copyright 2022 Christi Braschler
Images: Canva