Tuesday, May 18

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to fear your name.
—Psalm 86:11

We are accustomed to asking God for help in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Yet praying this way, day in and out, can begin to feel like little more than a shopping trip through heaven.

The more important purpose of prayer is to deepen our relationship with the Holy One. Prayer is meant to change us—to bring us more and more into the heart of heaven, where we can find our true meaning, our true purpose, our true hope, our true passion, our true love. It is meant to shape and re-shape, form and re-form us, so that we actually become the prayer we pray.

But, even this does not happen unless we pray for it. God does not maneuver situations in our lives or manipulate us into developing a relationship with heaven. It is always our choice, our decision to seek out that relationship.

When we begin to feel a seed of discontent within ourselves, when what used to make us happy leaves us feeling dry and empty, when we feel our soul lunging, lurching toward what cannot even be named, it is time to pray the prayer for deep relationship with the Holy One. In the instant that our heart prays that prayer, the Holy One pulls us close and life begins anew.

O God, let me know my empty restlessness to be my signal to reach toward your embrace.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2004.