Abba, father,

So much is going on in my heart and mind that I can’t really figure out what to say when I pray to you. Gratitude, joy, hope, love, and praise for you, are all mixed in with anxiety, guilt, need, pain, anger, and a whole host of not-so-good stuff. I try to sort it all out when I pray, to dig down deep to what matters most. But sometimes, it does seem like I am “heaping up empty words, as the Gentiles do.” In my struggle to figure out what to say, I rest in the realization that you “already know what I need before I ask.” (Matthew 6:7-8) So I simply say that prayer you taught me.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.