Imperfect Prayer

(photo taken from iBelieve.com)

What comes to mind when the word prayer is in the same sentence as distracted?  Do flashes of rosaries spent thinking of to-do lists and dinner menus come to mind?  Or maybe it was the last time you were at mass and there was the spilled Cheerios in the pew in front of you that took you by surprise in the middle of the Gospel.  Before you knew it, you were saying "Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ" and couldn't remember what it was you just heard.  If this sounds at all familiar to you, you are not alone!  Being distracted in prayer is just a part of being an imperfect person- we are easily distracted!  Now, I'm not saying that we should run off and be happy with thinking of the last Netflix episode we just watched during the next mass you attend, but if it does happen- do not fret.  It is important that once we do realize that our minds have wandered off, to simply re-focus, try again and give our best effort to once again engage in the prayer we started.

If you are anything like me, I had the idea in my head that distracted prayer is not as effective or pleasing to God.  Well, Jesus has set out to prove this mistaken idea of mine false.  Not only does God hear our imperfect prayers, but He is pleased with our mere good intention in doing so.  It is the enemy that wants us to believe that if we cannot pray perfectly, then we mine as well not pray at all- since we aren't doing it right.  This could not be further from the truth.  God works through imperfection!  Isn't it said in the Bible, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness"(2 Corinthians 12:9).  

If you are still a little skeptical, let me tell you a story that happened in my own life.  This happened a few years back when I had decided that I wanted to pray a Divine Mercy chaplet for "someone in most need of it."  It was about 4:00 pm and I sat down in my room and began to pray the chaplet.  No sooner had I started the prayer, my mind raced off in every direction.  I can't even remember what all was so important that I had to think of it right then, but none the less, there I was thinking about most anything but the prayer I was trying to pray.  Every once in a while, I would catch my self and then resolutely go back to meditating on the parts of Jesus' passion while I prayed. Then, before I knew it, I was finished with my chaplet and I couldn't even remember if I meditated on more than a few prayers or not in the whole chaplet.  Oh well, I thought, I'll try better next time.

Later that evening, I received news that my very good friend who had been sick for a long time passed away earlier in the day.  I was taken by surprise as I knew that she was sick but I did not think that she was going to leave us so soon.  When I spoke to my friend's sister about her passing, I asked her what time she passed away.  To my astonishment, my friend passed away just after the time would have been that I finished my "imperfect" Divine Mercy Chaplet.  It was too exact to be a co-incidence.  I knew that God would have taken into consideration that my good friend was passing and that I would want to have my prayer go towards her.  I immediately felt terrible that my chaplet was prayed with such absentmindedness and that if I had known, I would have prayed much more earnestly.  

However, I was nudged to ponder these happenings a bit more.  I was grateful that I was prompted to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet at that exact time- most likely by my Guardian Angel.  I also knew that God was pleased with my efforts to pray for my friend in her hour of greatest need.  God knew my pure intention was there, for the salvation of a soul in need.  Furthermore, what a blessing to know that her life was spared until the moment that I was finished with my prayer for her.

If my reflection was right and my imperfect prayer was still pleasing to God, what does this mean?  It means, quite frankly, that no matter how unintentionally distracted we may be during a prayer- God can do great things through this imperfect prayer.  In fact, God desires our imperfect prayer!

With this beautiful knowledge, let us never again be discouraged with our less-than-par prayers ever again!  Take to heart that God is pleased with your good intentions and that He will use your prayer for His perfect plan- even our imperfect ones!  This holds true for family prayer as well!  Do not let the idea that children fighting or not listening during family prayer is a reason to throw in the towel all together.  This could not be any further from the truth.  God is most pleased with our efforts and when a family prays together, it is music to His ears!  Know that God loves you and loves it when you pray- no matter how it looks!!

God Bless you!

Please comment below about some of your imperfect prayers!  I'd love to hear about them!  Thank you!