Wandering Prayer

When was the last time you got distracted in prayer? It happens to me all the time.

A moment of contemplative silence is shattered by the arrival of two rambunctious kids. Prayerful review of an important conversation from the prior day spirals into worries over whether or not that conversation was handled well. A line of spiritual reading evokes a movie from the weekend, and suddenly the mind is making new plans for Saturday. A bird begins pecking on the window, or a squirrel suddenly starts climbing across the porch.

The list goes on. There are so many disruptions that can derail our prayer, both internal noise and external distractions. Our anxieties and responsibilities poke their unwanted heads into our quiet moments with God, or we simply loosen our hands on the reins of our mind and suddenly find our thoughts far afield of where we’d intended to go.

Our impulse might be to choke up on those reins, to turn our mind back to God, our prayer, and our intended contemplative path.

And yet, we say we believe God to be present in all things. It’s easy to point to the pungent flowers or the gentle breeze and declare, “Here! God!” But are we as willing to find God present in our meandering minds and daily disruptions? Do we ask, “Why am I thinking about that movie from the weekend, that squirrel on the porch, or that person with whom I had that tense conversation?” God is there, too, in our wandering prayer. (And God is certainly present in those children that break down the door of contemplation!)

Of course, not all distractions are created equal. And too much distraction can and does grind away at the fruitfulness of our prayer. But don’t forget that St. Ignatius himself found God in his daydreams; he learned the art of discernment, in part, because he allowed his mind to wander and his heart to dream.

So, next time you find yourself distracted in prayer, don’t beat yourself up. Don’t grow discouraged. Don’t force yourself to turn back to God; God is already right there before you!

Instead, ask the Spirit why this particular wandering prayer has bubbled up in your mind. What might God be trying to show you? Is there something that deserves your attention or your delight? Is God simply trying to rest with you in a quiet, simple moment of that squirrel crawling over the porch?

It’s tempting to look at prayer as a checklist and the wanderings of our mind as a waste. But God is here in these moments, whispering, beckoning, delighting. And if God is here, it’s worth our time too.

Then, once we’ve honored our wandering prayer, ask the Spirit if it’s time to turn back to the regularly scheduled program. Because God is waiting for us there too—in the planned spiritual reading, in the rosary beads, and in the Gospel stories.

God is in all things, after all. So let God speak to you from the wanderings, the planned prayer, and from everywhere.