“The quieter you pray, the further you go.”
It happened on the show ‘The antiques roadshow. Someone had proudly brought in a chair, a family heirloom. It had a few knocks and scratches but it was clearly loved and had been enjoyed by many bottoms over the decades.
The chair had an inscription carved across its back in a different language. Loosely translated it meant. “The quieter you pray, the further you go.”
Now there's an interesting thought. Usually, we think that the faster, the noisier, the more out there, and the more highly politicised and noticed we are, the better for everyone. Especially the economy and for matters of our public profile.
But what if we were quieter when we prayed? What if we actually said less and did not burble our prayers as quickly as possible, as if our life depended on the words per minute that were uttered? What if we listened more? Wouldn’t that open up the possibility that we might go further in our prayers? Surely our prayers would be a richer, more exotic experience. Something to be gently savoured and simply enjoyed. When you are in the presence of someone who enjoys you and you enjoy them, surely there's no rush to just simply prattle away and be done with it just because chatting with them is a bothersome duty. Something else to tick off the daily list before moving rapidly onto the next thing and the next and…
And I reckon this works in our everyday relationships with human beings as well, especially our dearest and our best. They would understandably be crotchety if our conversation was just ‘something we had to do’. Why should it be different when we are in the presence of … Him?
The quieter you pray, the further you go.