If you believe, or even if you don’t know if you believe, what are you doing about it? Maybe you’re one of the majority of North Americans that believe in a “Higher Power”, but are also one of the majority of North Americans that are not religiously committed. If you acknowledge that there could be a Super-Reality, isn’t this a pretty profound statement that behoves further investigation? It’s kind of like saying you have a brother or sister that you’ve never met, but then not having the slightest interest in finding out more about them. Except that when we’re talking about a relationship with God, it is literally a matter of life-and-death. Perhaps that’s not a good analogy for you since you could find out about a long-lost sibling by research on Geneology.com or scouring Facebook or sending a sample to 23andme.com, but since God is unknowable, there’s nothing further to be done. But there are ways to establish that relationship, which may just become the most important one of your life.

And I don’t mean for this to sound like a challenge to self-discipline, but I suppose it is. It takes conscientiousness to practice. But Pssst! Here’s a secret: Devotion is a virtuous cycle. Finding the discipline to pray, although it might be difficult at first, fosters that very same self-discipline. Conscientiously denying my “self-ness”, my ego, my own selfishness, helps me to put my long-term goals ahead of my short-term ones, which when you think about it is the very essence of self-discipline, or the mortification of the flesh in Christian parlance. Eventually, it’ll allow me to put other’s goals ahead of my own… but I need a lot more practice for that.

And this self-discipline to pray bleeds into other aspects of my life: What and how much to eat, good sleep habits, exercise, less TV, buying less stuff, swearing less (I was in the army for 15 years so this one is harder for me than it should be), giving more to charity. It has also profoundly affected by perspective on death. Having three operational tours under my belt, I can humbly say that I’ve been a little closer to death than most Canadians, which has led me to the realisation that there’s no getting around the fact that one day (and that day could be very soon) it’ll be my turn. Contemplating the divine, making the transcendent a part of my life, and establishing a connection with the root of all being, helps my to accept my own limited being.

So, how do you start? My first suggestion is to not have any grand expectations of a profound, immediate and permanent change. Your first goal should just be to set aside 15 minutes daily to pray, and only for a defined period… say, six weeks. Similar to the mind hack of telling yourself you’re only going to exercise for 10 minutes, when just starting is the hard part, telling yourself that a new routine need only be temporary (i.e. for Lent or the extended St Martin’s Lent I’ll talk about in November) helps immensely. And what do you do? There are a bunch of different approaches on how to pray, there’s Centring Prayer, Christian Meditation, saying the rosary, Reciting Psalms, Morning or Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), or Reciting the Anglican Daily Office… but the easiest, simplest and most direct approach is to simply be silent, truly and profoundly silent, in action and thought... and to just listen. Just take the first step, and know that there will always be someone there to support and help you on your way.