When 10 Seconds of Prayer Matters More Than People Think
Growing up, prayer was often measured by the clock. I spent a lot of time in long services, listening to or reciting long prayers. In those days, I was there because I had to be—first because of my parents, and later because of my spouse.
The prayers were "pretty," and they were certainly lengthy, but they didn’t mean much to me. Mostly, they were just a list of things I wanted, or a litany which I didn’t understand.
The 40-Year Wilderness
As I moved into adulthood, prayer became less a part of my life. Eventually, I drifted into agnosticism. For many years, I went without prayer entirely—unless things turned terrible.
Like many people, I treated God like an emergency exit. When I was in a jam or a tough situation, I would cry out for a rescue. But that isn't a relationship; it’s just a needy person looking for a way out. I call this my 40 years in the wilderness, and looking back, it was entirely self-inflicted
The Turning Point: From Duty to Desire
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment things changed, but they did. The shift started with scripture.
It began as just a little bit of reading. Then, gradually, it became more frequent. Today, my morning Bible chapter is the anchor of my day; the day feels incomplete without it. The transformation was slow, but the pull was steady my whole life—even during the decades I spent ignoring the Lord.
I was "hooked" at my first Holy Communion, but it took a lifetime of trials for that seed to finally break the surface.
The Power of the 10-Second Conversation
The biggest change, however, hasn't been the length of my prayers, but the nature of them.
- Then: Prayer was a memorized dissertation or a list of demands.
- Now: Prayer is a conversation.
I’ll be honest: I’m still not very good at long, formal prayers. But I’ve discovered something better. My days are now full of 10-second moments where I can feel the presence of the Lord.
"When one 10-second moment ends, the seed is there for the next."
I cherish those 10 seconds. Every single one of them. It turns out that a life built on constant, brief moments of genuine connection matters much more than an hour or two of empty words once a week. If you’re struggling to find "the time" to pray, stop looking for an hour and start looking for your first 10 seconds.