by Jake Collier – In my youth, my parents taught me to always say grace before dinner and a prayer before going to sleep. They always used the same prayers and this seemed strange to me.
When we moved to a different town and attended a new church, the minister spoke from his heart more than any minister I had witnessed before. I soon became good friends with his son. When I was invited for dinner the minister said grace from his heart, and every grace was a different prayer. He was truly conversing with God. I soon discovered that every Saturday he would journey up into the mountains by himself to prepare his Sunday sermon.
What is prayer? Prayer is a conversation with God. Prayer develops a relationship with our Creator; it invites universal consciousness into us. We can express our love, our frustrations, and project what we would like to see in the future.
When Moses had his experience of seeing God as a burning bush, he asked the Light, “What shall I call you?” The answer came, “I Am That I Am,” meaning: “I Am” the past—everything from the first ignition of light to this moment; “That”—the present and all its vastness, the space between our thoughts; “I Am” the future—everything going forward, all projections, God’s divine intelligence moving out from the smallest of all places to the vast expansiveness of creation. I Am That I Am is all-inclusive, all-knowing.
A daily practice with a tool of meditation peels away the layers of life’s illusions and burns up our karmas. It slows our thoughts so we can have a conversation with I Am That I Am. It answers our many questions and stirs deep feelings of devotion within us. We begin to see and hear with our inner senses that cosmic intelligence moving through space and time, communicating with us, loving us, granting us peace and understanding.
The more we practice meditation, praying deeply to the Divine, sharing our inner thoughts, feelings, and projections, I Am That I Am begins to envelop us with love and life force. We cannot help but share it with others. We begin to understand our true life’s purpose here.