A Thousand Ways to Pray

Discovering Prayer as a Personal Dialogue with the Divine beyond Dogma and Tradition

Hello Friends,

I felt vulnerable sharing my poem, “No Begging for Love” but this piece about searching for the divine connection feels even more vulnerable.
Questions about beliefs and the Divine can often lead to heated debates, which is not my intention here. This is not about belief systems, preaching, or triggering anyone—it’s about sharing my personal experience.
I have always searched the connection to the Divine – even as a child and beyond fixed rules and dogmas.

Many think of prayers as recitations or memorized verses, but prayer exists in a thousand forms. No one way is better than the other - whether it’s in community or solitude, through words or silence, movement or stillness. Some of us kneel to pray, others dance, sing, meditate, or sit in the quiet of nature. Some prayers come through in the joy of life, while others rise up in moments of sorrow or confusion.

Writing down my prayers is one of the ways I pray. The written word gives my longings for the Divine form, a way to break down the immensity of desire into something more accessible and tangible. As I write, I find myself searching outward and inward simultaneously.

WRITING DOWN MY PRAYERS

I like to
write down
my prayers
to try
to pour into form
the formless
shapeless
expressions of my soul

I like to
write down
my prayers
to come closer
to my heart’s dialogue
with you

I like to
write out
my prayers
to break down
the magnitude
of my infinite longing
for you
that resides
in me
searching out
the heavens
for the deep
light
that is also
a spark in my heart.

Oh, I write down
my prayers
to hold them
to be closer to you
and yet
I faintly remember
like from a distant land
or another time
that there is another form
I pray
to you
not when I am reciting verses
or seeking structure
but when I am half-asleep
when I am half-awake
or half-dreaming
with my feverish heart
somewhere beating between
the realms of heaven and earth
and all it
brings forward
- sometimes like a whisper
and sometimes like a roar -
is:

Dear God,
God,
Please.
I am here
Hold me.

In writing, I take the vastness of my spiritual longings and find a place for them on the page. Every line I pen feels like a bridge between the internal and the divine, between my limited self and the vastness of the universe. Through this act, I come closer to my heart’s dialogue with God, the ineffable conversation that happens within, beyond words, but somehow expressed through them.

Yet, prayer is not always structured.

There are times when prayer arises spontaneously, from a place beyond thought, beyond words. There is a place within me where prayer happens without conscious effort — in dreams, in that quiet space between waking and sleeping, when the heart beats in rhythm with something larger. It is a form of prayer that cannot be contained in words or lines on a page. It is both a whisper and a roar, and when it comes, it is raw and real.

The beauty of prayer is that it evolves as we do.

Prayer reflects who we are and where we are in our spiritual journey. Personally, I always search for new ways to communicate and commune with the sacred. It is like learning a new language.

If you pray, how do you pray?

Love
Rose

💛 P.S. Maybe, these thoughts mean something to you. If so, it would mean a lot to me if you take a moment to comment, share or like the post. 💛