Earnest

Access to our Creator through our Savior is surely one of the great privileges and blessings of our lives. I have learned from countless personal experiences that great is the power of prayer. No earthly authority can separate us from direct access to our Creator. There can never be a mechanical or electronic failure when we pray. There is no limit on the number of times or how long we can pray each day. There is no quota of how many needs we wish to pray for in each prayer. We do not need to go through secretaries or make an appointment to reach the throne of grace. He is reachable at any time and any place.
~James E Foust, 'The Lifeline of Prayer', Ensign May 2002

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I've written about prayer before. Remember? It was enlightening for me to write about the topic. They say that a testimony is found in the sharing of it. I have to say that I agree with that. When I write about these topics, my mind centers around the idea and I am able to more fully understand my own feelings.

Well, I'm thinking about prayer again and some new insight that I gained yesterday. First of all, I have to say that The Lord is amazing. He gives things to us in ways we may never expect. Me and the kids were watching PBS yesterday morning like always. On the PBS station that we watch, we are lucky enough that it is connected to BYU TV so we are able to get little tidbits of spirituality throughout the day. Sometimes it's a result of an amazing performance by a BYU dance company or music group. But at 11am everyday, we receive this spirituality through the broadcast of a BYU devotional from the past. Sometimes they are are decades old and sometimes more recent. Yesterday's was incredible! Keep reading....

This devotional was from June of this year and was given by Marilyn Berrett who is a professor in the BYU dance department. Needless to say, my interested was perked. The topic of her talk was Earnest Prayer. I can't even begin to express the amount of inspiration I received from listening to this talk. Things stuck out to me that I didn't expect and I was truly touched by the spirit! She quoted Enos, she discussed this talk by Russell M. Nelsen and shared amazing stories from her life and some were centered around work that she did with the Dancer's Company at BYU.

One part that really stuck out to me was of the importance of kneeling to pray when you are able. This is something that I've always difficulty with. Not for lack of desire, but more laziness. when I was in high school and had broken my back, kneeling obviously painful during the injury and especially painful after. During that time an already shaky habit fell by the wayside and was neglected and subsequently forgotten. We've been working on kneeling with the kids when say our family prayers and that has been working well in teaching them the humbling act. However, I didn't feel the need to enforce the habit upon myself. When sister Berrett was discussing kneeling she said, 'You don't have to be dancer who studies the meaning of movement to recognize the significant symbolism of kneeling." That meant a lot to me because as a dancer, I do know how symbolic it is as a humble gesture. As she discussed kneeling to pray she talked about the spiritual examples where it discusses kneeling including Isaiah where he said that 'Every knee shall bow...." Was I one of those whose knees were bowing?

Well, I'm heavy with child right now and I have been dealing off and on with a knee issue that has caused me pain if I knee just right. But I decided while I was listening that these excuses were just that, excuses. If I am able to pray for the major things in my life, why not ask the Lord to help me in my quest for more meaningful prayers by asking Him to help ease the pain help give me the strength that I need to be able to kneel while I speak with Him.

The Lord knew that I needed to hear this talk. Not that I've been struggling with prayer. Quite the opposite, in theory. Things aren't particularly hard right now, but they're not particularly easy either. Things have gone on in life where I need to have the Lord's help and strength to be able to face them. The thing that needed to change, was how meaningful my prayers were. that is what needed improvement.

What also needed improvement is the example that I'm setting fro my children. I've had both of my girls walk in on my while I'm kneeling to pray and each of them have been worried. I would never want them to think that because I'm on my knees praying that something is wrong. They need to know that something is definitely right. Because where else are they going to learn?

Please go and watch this talk. Click on this link and watch these inspiring words. If you've ever taken prayer for granted, you may not after this.

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