Richard Carleton

This is the Way I Pray: the Prayers and Meditations of the Poet Preacher Richard Carleton

Prayer is sometimes like writing a letter to God. Before I write a letter, I imagine what I am going to say. The trouble is that I often think what I would like to write to folks or my friends or even to God, and then when I sit down to write, all I can think of is the weather. Now, what about that letter to God? We might say how we are feeling about life-(This is just what I want to say to a friend). We might bring to God our happiness in all that we are part of-Food, shelter, warmth, care, love, responsibility. We might tell how we are needed, for this is the great gift-And we are needed because of the needs of others. We might admit our puzzlement about life-And very secretly, we would try to see what we have done wrong-To think of going to those people and saying so-We think it very secretly-but surely. There are many things to write to God.