Prayers From The Heart

I’ve never prayed in Albanian until we started the CEF kids clubs at the house. Now I’m a perfect example of how there is no wrong way to pray because I end up breaking almost all the grammar rules when I pray. Not to mention I mispronounce half the words. Or use adjectives as nouns or vice versa or just make up words. To be honest, I often wonder if any one even understand anything I’m saying.

But today, during my language lesson, my language teacher asked me to choose a book to read from. Instead of choosing my go to favorite kids’ Bible, I chose a kids’ prayer book. It has a lot of random little prayers in it for food, for the day, bedtime prayers, etc.

After reading most of them, my teacher asked me to write my own prayer out. About 3/4 of a full page. What? Man, I do not think well in Albanian prayer mode under pressure. I’ve learned that before. Many times now. But at least this time, I could write which also helps me have time to think.

I finished writing and sat waiting for the grammatical errors to surface. Much to my surprise, my language teacher didn’t correct anything but rather, just sat and read it with a huge smile on her face. I knew that was too good to be true. So I asked her about it.

She said when you pray, grammar doesn’t matter. It’s supposed to show your heart to God so you only try to speak with correct grammar when you are talking with friends. Not with God. You just speak from the heart. All the proper formal things don’t matter.

I love that. When was the last time you spoke with God from your heart. Without worrying about grammar or what to talk about or saying what you think you should say in a prayer. God just wants to hear you. And if that’s someone who can’t conjugate half the verbs or pronounce most of the Albanian words well then so be it. God doesn’t hear that stuff (thank goodness). He hears your heart.

When was the last time you spoke with God from your heart?