Where do You Pray?

I was raised a Roman Catholic and spent my youth in musty churches reciting prayers that had little meaning to me, to a God that didn't make sense. Is it any wonder that I lost the early years of my adulthood in denial of God? So where do I pray now, where do I find God in my life?As I mentioned in my last post, I have come to see God in many of the friends (and even in the faces of some strangers) that have made this life such a good one for me.

But where and how do I pray? I have a church that meets my needs and leaves me feeling closer to God and myself. this church isn't in a building, but lies in the forest. I spend as much time as I can get away and hike with my closest friend on the Appalacian trail. We talk about our lives and about God, we share the time together and we lose ourselves from the meaningless things in this world that get in the way of spiritual growth. I have been doing this now for several years and to say that these times away have changed my life would not be an exaggeration. She has saved me by bringing God into my life; not the distant, illogical God of my youth, the God who allowed the righteous to be damned and evil to befall the good. The God that I know today is a God that lives within us; a God that inspires us to to care for each other, for we are all of one spirit. Look no further for your God than within your own heart. he does not ask for stale prayers from us, but only that we love each other and that we start by loving ourselves. When you love yourself, you love God and until you love yourself, you cannot love others.