By Dr. Dan Collins
NNPA Columnist
(June 2, 2009) - Prayer is a cornerstone of good mental health because it immediately removes from our shoulders an unbearable burden - of being God.
When people function as if we were God, it makes us crazy.
Putting a God-sized burden on human sized shoulders is stressful. In a post-modern secular society, prayer is marginalized. Instead, we learn to rely on reason and hard work to influence the world.
The problem we have painfully discovered is that life is often unfair and unreasonable. And in those moments, when our humanity is stretched to its limits, intuitively we realize that there are some problems we just can’t fix by ourselves. It is at these times that it becomes crystal clear, we need to turn to a source greater than ourselves.
Having a connection with the divine is a refreshing fix for our trial and tribulation parched humanity. The divine connection bridges the gap between our best efforts and what still remains to be done.
Prayer is a stress buster because it pre-supposes that God will help us by making up the difference between what we have done and what is still needed. Prayer is a wonderful tool to help us manage the unmanageable aspects of our lives.
Prayer is good for our mental health because it humanizes us. A healthy prayer life invites each of us to look at ourselves and examine how we are affecting other people.
I’ll never forget a sermon a young preacher delivered in our church. His analogy was striking. He said he loved to go fishing because every now and then, he’d feel something tugging on the other end. Prayer, he said, is the same way: ''Every now and then, you feel something tugging on the other end.”
The preacher was right. Prayer is effective. If you continue to pray, you actually start to experience prayer outcomes. Here are at least three things that change inside of us that have a wonderful impact on our emotional health:
* Increase of love - Prayerfulness makes us more tuned into ourselves and each other. As we love, we are able to serve. In our current world, as the young folk are fond of saying, “I’m going to do me.” Love has a different script. Love instead asks a question: what is it that you want and need? And then love breaks it’s back trying to make that happen. Love heals, restores and reconciles.
* Increase of Patience - the word “wait” is a fighting word in many quarters. People don’t like to wait. But the idea of waiting can shift if we consider the benefits. Think of patience as being yoked to developing character. Remember either you will have character or be a character. Waiting helps us because we learn to face problems with greater determination. Patience helps us to make better decisions. And better decision making is at the heart of improved mental health.
*Increase of Vision - Prayerfulness gives us focus and direction. Developing a vision helps us to imagine the possible in the midst of the improbable. Vision empowers us to be bold--- to become more, to expect more and reach for more. A vision like this helps us to become more connected and resourceful. When we bring this type of vision into every aspect of our lives, we will have transformative mental health.