Thought of the Sunday 1

One of my goals for this year is to make my prayers more meaningful; I want to feel like I am actually talking with my Father in Heaven, that I'm listening and that we are communicating well.  I pray often and I want to avoid getting into a rut and saying the same thing every time.  So I found this great talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin entitled Improving Our Prayers...just what I was looking for.  He asks us, the reader, a ton of evaluation questions.  Here are some of them.

"Have you considered the effectiveness of your prayers, your efforts to reach toward Him from this mortal life? How close do you feel to your Heavenly Father? Do you feel that your prayers are answered? Do you feel that the time you spend in prayer enriches and uplifts your soul? Is there room for improvement?  Do your prayers at times sound and feel the same? Have you ever said a prayer mechanically, the words pouring forth as though cut from a machine? Do you sometimes bore yourself as you pray?  Will prayers that do not demand much of your thought merit much attention from our Heavenly Father?

These are the questions that I will consider as I try to improve my own prayers.  Elder Wirthlin gives a few suggestions to help us empower our prayers a little more: think of things you are grateful for, share your goals (like New Year resolutions), hopes and dreams with Him, pray with faith that He will answer, be charitable toward those around us, pray with the intent to act, and many others.  It is a fabulous talk with a lot of suggestions.  I will end with his thought on the important of prayer: 

"Prayer is the doorway through which we commence our discipleship to things heavenly and eternal. We will never be alone so long as we know how to pray."