How often do we pray? At night when we are alone with the darkness enfolding us like a silk comforter? Or perhaps in the morning when we awake to realize that a fine new day has started with many interesting things to do and see?

The Bible tells us that we must "pray without ceasing." ^{I Thess. 5:17;} This may seem like a lot to do when we're so busy going to school, doing our homework, playing games, riding our bicycles, planning for the next day's activities. But praying doesn't mean that we always have to stop and fold our hands and bow our heads, although this shows our reverence for God and we like to do it.

Every time we think of God as Mind and know that we are His ideas, as Christian Science teaches us, we are praying. Every time we replace a wrong thought such as, "My father told me to put away my bicycle; I'll do it later," with a good one, "I'll do it now." Or replace the thought, "She's mean!" with the good one, "God is Love and never made a mean idea." Or, in a school test, "Just this once I'll sneak a look at someone else's paper," with "No, all God's ideas are truthful. Divine Mind has the answer to the problem, and I know it too."

We are also praying when we feel joy because we are with a friend and are loving him. And we are praying when we see someone being unkind and try to know him as only God's child, not hateful or hating but reflecting God; when we do something for someone else in order to help him; when we love and appreciate the beauty of a flower growing in a field or on the teacher's desk. Then we remember that Mrs. Eddy says on page 179 of Miscellaneous Writings, "And He [God] made every flower in Mind before it sprang from the earth."

We are praying when we know that God is Love and that He never sends sickness or unhappiness to His beloved children. How wonderful it is to feel God's nearness when we are troubled about something or don't feel well! This is the time to do what in Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us to do: "In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door." ^{Science and Health, p. 15;}

To enter the closet means to shut out the false fears and pictures that are being presented to us as real and to think of God as being all Love, all-presence, all-power, and that we, His ideas, are always in His presence, safe, well, happy, and free.

When we are studying the Lesson-Sermons from the Christian Science Quarterly and are trying to understand more of God and of our life in Him, we are praying. The more we know of God the more we know of ourselves, our lives, our health, our abilities; and the happier we are. We can do better in our schoolwork, in sports, in handcrafts, and in all our activities. This constant prayer keeps us joyful, for we are knowing more certainly that we live in the kingdom of heaven, where all is good.

Mrs. Eddy tells us that Christ Jesus gave us the prayer that meets all our needs. She writes in Science and Health, "Our Master said, 'After this manner therefore pray ye,' and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs." ^{p. 16;} She is speaking of the Lord's Prayer, which begins, "Our Father which art in heaven." ^{Matt. 6:9;} It gives us a deep sense of joy to know that God's ideas are always good. We keep ourselves well and free from wrong thinking when we really feel God's allness and know that error is nothing, no part of us or of anyone else, no part at all. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." ^{v. 13 .} Forever!