Prayer Cues

“I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs—he hears, he rescues. My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger.” (Psalm 55:16-18 MSG)

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to develop the habit of praying throughout the day. I’ve tried several different methods. It is still a work in progress, but I thought it may be helpful to share some of the practices below.

The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office: This ancient Catholic practice of praying at set times all through the day can still be found in monasteries and convents. The prescribed prayers consist of different psalms, hymns, and scripture readings. For those who are interested in trying this, there are free apps that provide all the resources you need. I have been using the Divine Office app which provides an audio version along with text. 

Timers: You can set alarms on your phone to remind you to pray at set times. This method is more free-form. You can pray however you choose--only the time is structured. You can set the times that work best for your schedule. 

Habit Stacking: Rather than tying prayer to a particular time, you can pair it with an existing habit. Many of you already pray before meals. You can extend this to all sorts of daily routines. Practice pausing for a few seconds in God’s presence when you wake up and when you transition from one task to another. Look for habits that you do multiple times a day. For example, I look at my phone multiple times a day. Whenever someone messages me, I lift them up to God. When I pick up my phone out of boredom, I use the list of recent messages as a prayer list.  I ask God to purify my family as I clean my home. When an anxious thought bubbles up, I silently whisper: Lord, I trust You.  As I moisturize my dry lips, I mentally pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD. I may not remember to pray every time I do these tasks, but these cues help me to check in with God more frequently than I would otherwise.