Secret Saints Sit: Prayer is Relationship with God

I've noticed a lie, "sitting in silence is not enough" to be considered prayer.

Sitting in silence with God is "enough" and it's exactly where God wants us to be.

Our lives today are so busy. There are emails to answer, dishes to wash, kids to drive, and somehow my phone almost always reaches me before Jesus does.

I wish I could say I faithfully begin every morning with an hour of prayer, but I don't. I fall in and out of the habit.

But I've noticed something over the years. Every time I return to a rhythm of daily prayer, I feel better. I have more peace. I think the future will “work out.”  I'm more aware of God's presence throughout my day.

The funny thing is, my circumstances usually haven't changed. I have and I have remembered to sit in silence with God.

Saint Teresa Knew the Secret

One of the people who understood this best was St. Teresa of Ávila.

Saint Teresa wasn't simply interested in teaching people how to pray. She wanted them to know God Himself.

When young women entered her convent, some only fifteen years old, she expected them to develop a practice of silent contemplative prayer within six months. She believed this wasn't an optional devotion reserved for mystics. It was essential to becoming deeply rooted in Christ.

Silence Feels Unproductive

If I'm honest, silence feels incredibly unproductive, and the world is all about productivity and efficiency. 

When I sit in silence, my mind reminds me of everything I should be doing instead.

Laundry.

That text I forgot to answer.

The grocery list.

My phone. I can pull up Social Media...

Maybe that's why silence feels so difficult? Not because God is absent. But because we've become accustomed to constant noise.

Prayer is Relationship with God

Prayer isn't about earning God's love or becoming more spiritual. It is learning to experience the union with Christ that has already been given to us through His finished work. It's remembering we are children of God.

We aren't trying to climb our way to God—we're learning to enjoy the relationship He has already established.

So often we think holiness begins with trying harder.

Pray more.

Serve more.

Volunteer more.

Read another book.

Become more disciplined.

But Scripture tells a different story.

Before Jesus preached a sermon, healed a single person, or performed one miracle, the Father declared,

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22)

Identity came before activity.

Secret Saints Sit in Silence

Secret Saints understand that prayer isn't another item on the to-do list.

It's putting down the phone for ten minutes, sitting quietly before the Father, and talking to him about your day.

It's opening Scripture slowly instead of rushing through a reading plan.

It's taking a walk without earbuds.

These all count for personal prayer, these are all "enough." Don't believe any lie that says this is not enough.

An Invitation

If you're anything like me, your phone will probably try to steal tomorrow morning too.

Mine probably will.

But what if, before reaching for our notifications, we reached for Jesus?

Not to accomplish something.

Not to earn something.

Simply to be with Someone.

Maybe start with five minutes?

Sit quietly.

Breathe.

Read one verse of Scripture.

Then just stay.

Saint Teresa believed that ordinary people could become close friends with God. I think she was right. Maybe that is the secret life of the saints, not extraordinary accomplishments, but ordinary people who learned to sit in silence with an extraordinary Friend.