Messy, Childish Prayers

I am reading A Praying Life - by Paul Miller. Again. It was good the first time, and a joy this time. A friend is reading as well. Here is an extended quote that she sent me from chapter 3. It encouraged both of us.

“We know we don’t need to clean up our act in order to become a Christian, but when it comes to praying, we forget that. We, like adults, try to fix ourselves up. In contrast, Jesus wants us to come to him like little children, just as we are.

"The difficulty of coming just as we are is that we are messy. And prayer makes it worse. When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don’t know how bad we are until we try to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer.

"In contrast, little children never get frozen by their selfishness. Like the disciples, they come just as they are, totally self-absorbed.

". . . .This is the gospel, the welcoming heart of God. God cheers when we come to him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers. Jesus does not say, ‘Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.’

"No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, ‘Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy.""