"The more you focus on something -- whether that's math or auto racing or football or God -- the more that becomes your reality, the more it becomes written into the neural connections of your brain."
-Andrew Newburg, neuroscientist
So, for a moment let's take God out of the idea of prayer. If we're investing daily time focusing on the other, our neighbor, our friends and even our enemies perhaps the more likely we'll be able to empathize, live amongst, advocate for, etc.
Now re-insert God into the idea of prayer... For those of us that follow Jesus, we believe the Spirit works mysteriously good things through our prayers, so not only is prayer reasonable on a spiritual level, it's also found to be reasonable on a scientific one.
I confess, sometimes I get so caught up in how hard it is to lean into the mysterious stuff of faith that I forget the simple and practical things involved in following Jesus... such as investing consistent, yet simple time focusing on God (note: not the god made in our image) and others (note: not my desires for them but God's) through this meditative, unpolished, and ancient practice called prayer... a practice we so often over-complicate and as a result take long and regretful vacations from.
(the above quote by the Andrew Newberg comes from this NPR article:
...potent
..thanx
Posted by: Wes Roberts | June 07, 2009 at 06:07 PM
That confirms what seems so true naturally. When we focus on God our reality is shaped by that. And I love the interplay between how God might work through and react to our prayers and the way he has made us to be shaped by spending that time with him in prayer.
Posted by: Trevor Lee | June 07, 2009 at 07:31 PM
what you focus on you become...
one of the first things I heard, I mean really heard on my journey.
Posted by: becky | June 10, 2009 at 07:44 AM