Fill Our Lives

Is this a song or is it a prayer? Saint Augustine (354-430 AD) said that “he who sings prays twice”. How does that work? Perhaps we send one prayer to God and one prayer to ourselves. If prayer is a dialogue with the divine, the part of prayer that we receive may just involve an answer that is already within us. We are too often tempted to petition God to do the impossible, and neglect the possible of which we are capable because it requires so much of our effort. Will our prayers allow us to open our eyes and see through that haze? Will they open our minds to new ways of dealing with change and living with others? That first requires a willingness to do so. Perhaps prayer tills the soil of our soul, opening us to new possibilities the way a plough opens the earth to the seed. In song, we find elements of both word and melody, and sometimes the melody gives voice to what words cannot express. So perhaps it is appropriate to frame prayer as a song, so that it can prepare us for where we need to go and help us hear in a new way the answers to what we seek.