Friday, February 24, 2012

Spoonful of Sugar

Prayer draws us closer to God as we bring our joys, sorrows, requests, and yes, even our fears and anger before God. It is true that God knows "our needs before we ask," yet we are called to pray anyway-to articulate to our Creator what it is we are happy or sad or worried about.  
Sometimes we need a reminder of just how easy prayer can be. Yesterday's blog talked about 'ACTS' as a formula. There is an even easier one, that reminds me of Mary Poppins song "A Spooonful of Sugar".  She sings: "A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, The medicine go down-wown, The medicine go down . Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down In a most delightful way."
The prayer formula is called the Teaspoon Prayer or TSP: Thanks-Sorry-Please.  

You cannot get much simpler than the basics of Thanking God for all things in life, saying I'm Sorry for the things I did wrong, and finally asking Please help me do better and Please help those I am thinking of!
Prayer helps us see, like the bee in Mary Poppins' song, that living in relationship with God is 'not a grind':
The honey bees that fetch the nectar. From the flowers to the comb, Never tire of ever buzzing to and fro. Because they take a little nip From ev'ry flower that they sip. And hence They find Their task is not a grind.