Wondering About Prayer

Ellen, how do you pray?

Not often enough. I feel a bit guilty about that.

At night, before I sleep, I say the Lord’s Prayer, then “Thank you God for another beautiful day of life, love, and light on our planet.” “Our” means God’s and mine, and humanity’s.

Three Hs: “Thank you for my home, my health, and my ex-husband.” It used to be ‘husband.’
Three Fs: “Thank you for my friends, my family, my future.”
Then I go into details: “Thank you for Tom, and Lucy, and Max, and Zen, and all my coworkers,
and … “
I will thank God for my car, my income, my job, etc.
To change the subject, I say: “If it be thy will, in a perfect way through Christ, and for the good of everyone, please …” and I ask for healing light and/or grace for people who need it: Greg, Sal and Linda down the hall, Les, sick/lonely/neglected children, etc.
I ask the universe to bless Tom & Lucy, everyone they come in contact with, and everyone who watches over them.
I don’t know if this would count as prayer, but many times a day I say “Thank you God” for things like the water in my shower, finding my keys, my car starting, a particularly beautiful day or sky, paying bills, etc.
In the back of my mind I practice an ideal that might be a prayer, might not. I got the idea for it in this advice I read somewhere: Before you say something, ask yourself 3 questions: Is it helpful? Is it true? Is it kind? I’ve been working on integrating that into my conversation. I wonder if that would be considered prayer.
I don’t like to ask for things in prayer, except when it’s for other people.  If I were to ask God for strength, I would probably get a real challenge to test my strength.
Instead of asking, I expect, which I learned from Esther Hicks/Abraham. I expect that with help from the universe supplementing what I provide, I will have plenty of money to take care of my bills, taxes, and other physical needs. I expect protection. I expect guidance — and I’ve gotten it plenty of times without realizing it was guidance.  I expect everything will be all right, no matter what.
One more. I do like to say “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.”