Do You Pray Right?

When I was in college, I was involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. They talked alot about a "Daily Quiet Time." Good idea, although I got the impression that it should be daily (I'm not too good with daily consistency), and in the morning (I'm not a morning person). You were also supposed to read a portion of Scripture and answer questions about it.

Nothing wrong with any of that, except I wasn't too good at doing it. So for the past 20 years I've had in the back of my mind that "I don't pray right." Along the way I've read books like Listening to God by John Ackerman where I learned that there are different types of spirituality, and I'm more a contemplative that meets God through silence. I've discovered the labyrinth and A Guide to Walking Meditation, and learned that I pray better when I'm moving my body. I am nourished by Taize, the music, the prayer services, and now perhaps the podcasts. (Thanks Steve Whitney, for you post on morning prayer for night people, and the links to prayer sites. )I read Everyday Spiritual Practice, and learned that anything from balance to adversity to marriage to recycling can be a spiritual practice. (How about fasting between meals?) I keep in mind a quote from Richard Foster, that just like a child can never draw a bad picture, a child of God can never pray a bad prayer.

And yet... And yet I still have in the back of my mind "I'm not praying right." Why? Why has that stuck so deeply in my soul?

Dear Lord, teach me to pray. And Lord, help me to know that I am already "praying right."