Spirituality

During moments of helplessness, there is always one thing that can be done to make us feel more purposeful: pray. Contrary to traditional prayer poses, we don't have to spend hours on our knees with hands steepled before us. Prayer can actually be a wonderful, calming, energizing, yet comfortable activity. Sit or lie in any position you wish. Arrange yourself as if you were preparing for a long chat with a close friend.

Though prayer can mean different things to different people, most of us would agree that prayer is simply talking to God. But many don't realize that prayer is actually a lot more pro-active than simply talking! When we pray, we are actually setting certain forces into motion. Prayers are thoughts. Thoughts are energy. Energy has power. When we pray, we are purposely setting energy into motion.

Prayer is much more than just "asking for something." Prayer is affirming, visualizing, and having faith that certain circumstances are sure to follow. Remember that God also gave us the ability to create. We create every single day. We use our bodies and minds to generate money (a form of energy) to support our families. Men and women come together to create new life. Artists take a blank canvas and create a breathtaking vision of beauty. For human beings, creating is the simplest form of expression. The most difficult part is deciding what to create and then having the discipline to form our thoughts in that direction.

How does this process of creation apply to victims of a disaster? Beyond the obvious physical necessities of food, water, clothing and shelter, what do these people need the most? They need comfort. They need peace. They need to know that everything is going to be okay again, even though their entire world has just been turned upside down. They are grieving for lost loved ones, homes, friends, jobs, neighbors and so much more. They weathered the storm, they are lucky to be alive, but now what?

Now they begin the slow process of building another life for themselves, which is a frightening thing to do. We are creatures of habit. We like our comfortable, familiar routines. The unknown is scary. And the only thing I've found that can reduce fear is FAITH. But so many of these people are without faith right now. They've lost everything, including hope. We need to send our own faith to help them, huge chunks of faith, swaddled in love and borne on the wings of prayer.

How exactly do we do this? Whether you are a spiritual practitioner or not, whether you are a religious person or not, remember that prayers are simply thoughts. Send positive thoughts. Visualize the victims, individually or as a collective group, and surround them with love, peace, comfort, strength and healing. Make it real, make it strong, make it a powerful vision. The more energy you put into it, the more energy that WILL go into it.

Maybe you have doubts about how well this really works. Do it anyway. Put your doubt aside for a few moments, and pretend it will work. Or do an internet search on the Power of Prayer, and read about the many studies that have been done on this topic. I think you'll be surprised by some of the results.

The strongest benefit of this type of purposeful prayer is that it reduces our feelings of powerlessness. It reminds us that we can co-create with God to make this world a better place, to help our fellow man, and ourselves. Though we may feel powerless much of the time, we are in control of a lot more than we might think.

Will praying for people make all of their trials vanish instantly? Probably not. But what if we can give them something more than the basic necessities of life? What if we can somehow pass along the will to get through another day, the strength to face their grief, and the courage to start over? Isn't that worth the effort? I think so.

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