“Caution: the moving walkway is ending…”
I was at the airport last night waiting for my children to return from their annual winter-time trip to visit their father. The flight was delayed so I got out my breviary to pray.
Just FYI–the airport, even at 11:30 pm at night, is a bit too noisy for recollected prayer. :) I was sitting by one of those moving conveyor belt walkways, and there was a bizarre antiphonal effect to the constantly repeated announcement from the speaker:
Psalm 110
The Lord’s revelation to my Master: “Sit on my right: your foes I will put beneath your feet.”
Caution: the moving walkway is ending…
The Lord will wield from Zion your scepter of power: rule in the midst of all your foes.
Caution: the moving walkway is ending…
A prince from the day of your birth on the holy mountains; from the womb before the dawn I begot you.
Caution: the moving walkway is ending…
And so on. Sigh.
But that’s okay. Prayer doesn’t always have to be a mountain-top experience, especially “canned” prayer like the Office, or the Rosary. I think God honors our efforts to remain faithful to our prayer time. Woody Allen said that 90% of life is just showing up. 90% of all prayer is just showing up, too, and it’s up to God to do anything amazing if He wants to.
Granted, carefully choosing a good time and place helps (i.e. not the airport, apparently…) but even in the perfect setting prayer can be dry, uninspiring, boring, and distracted in spite of or maybe even because of our efforts to manufacture a great prayer experience.
Just show up and let God do the heavy lifting.
