Prayer: Naming the Sacred
Posted on October 27, 2024 by Todd Leonard, One of Thousands of Spirituality Coaches on Noomii.
One way prayer can be helpful is in naming time, space and setting as sacred. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that life is more than ordinary.
For the record, I struggle to understand prayer. However, one way that it does make sense to me is its use in naming time, space and activity as sacred for my own (and sometimes, others’) awareness.
This is different than asking God to bless us with divine presence or to come and be with us. It is recognizing what is already true: God is always present—wherever and whenever we are. This is the real opportunity of prayer: to place our awareness into the reality of God’s presence.
So sometimes I’ll recognize God is present in a conversation or in a situation and I’ll mentally name it and give gratitude for it in prayer. Other times, I’ll inwardly state that God is present before I even sense the divine—in faith, I prepare myself by naming the time and/or space sacred. And during my chaplaincy training, I worked on the practice of trying to center my daily work in an awareness of the sacred. Recognizing that ordinary time, space and action are infused with holiness, is, I believe, crucial soul work.
Where have you seen the sacred show up in surprisiing ways? Have you ever seen the work you do as holy or sacred? Could you start to envision it as such? How can you incorporate “naming prayer” into your daily routine?
