Hotline to the Maker

Everyone prays, even when they're swearing: 'God, make the pain go away!' 'Christ, why do things keep going wrong?' 'Jesus, how could they do this to me?'

The bad stuff in our lives is what we do to ourselves. Often, when we cry out in our pain, God hears us, and makes things better. And we pick ourselves up, keep on doing things that gave us the pain, and it all happens again.

Why do we only pray when things are bad? He wants to hear about the good stuff, too.

For lots of people, it's because we think praying's something only good people do, not ordinary, bad people like us. We don't know how to do it.

Jesus told us how. First, he said, call him Daddy. He even gave us a prayer we can all say, they call it the Lord's Prayer. But we don't need to use special words, especially if we don't think about exactly what we're saying when we repeat them, unthinking.

But he also said that if we asked him, he'd show us how. No priest can do it. But Jesus can. Just open up your heart and ask him in.

Once you've done that, he'll tell you what to do. Because he's always been there, whether you know it or not.