Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 6:5-15
English Standard Version (ESV)

  In some ways, prayer is a bit like cooking -- you get out of it what you put into it.  When I was younger, I ate a lot of pasta.  It was quick and easy, and while it checked the box, I didn't get much nourishment out of it, no matter how much meat I mixed in with the tomato sauce.  After a while, I grew hungry for something a bit more polished, more complex.  I was ready for more, and over the years I developed a taste for more flavors, better understanding that the more effort I put into cooking a meal, the richer it would be.
  Similarly, prayer is a serious endeavor.  The more we pray, the deeper the relationship between us and God develops.  The more time we spend in prayer, the more we are fed -- we learn how to depend on God, how to listen, how to lament, how to praise.  Our prayers are not rushed, but they develop and take time, asking more of us and yet offering more in return -- more comfort, more challenge, more solace, more peace.  We grow, and the relationship grows, and we come to understand that prayer is a much more complex task than it was when we first started and thought we were just checking something off the list so we could hurry off to the next.