Editorial August 18, 1986 Issue

Simple prayers

ALLISON W. PHINNEY, JR.

Sometimes the thought may come that if praying were simpler, we would do more of it. It's a devilish suggestion. The fact is that prayer is already as simple as it could possibly be.

You are probably doing more praying in your life than you realize. If you are steadily working at being good, for example, that's definitely a form of prayer. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, makes the observation "The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer." ^{ Science and Health, p. 4.}

Spiritual affection expressed in simple human terms is also a kind of prayer. This affection is by no means something we lose the need for as we grow in spiritual understanding. After all, the five-line "Daily Prayer" of Christian Scientists (in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy) concludes, "... may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!"^{ Man., Art. VIII, Sect. 4.}