A Prayer for Those Who Just Want to Feel Something

Heavenly Father, we confess that we have been sleepwalking through our days. We’ve stumbled through moments when we should have been present; we’ve been blind to the beauty around us, however small. We admit, in half-shame, that although we’ve heard ourselves laughing, we’re shocked by its hollowness—at the smiles that don’t seem to penetrate our souls.

We admit our yearning for more—for joy; for satisfaction; for meaning. For the ecstasy of love. We long to know, once more, the tenderness of childhood & the hope that so easily sprung forth when we were still naïve to our world.

We hunger to feel alive again—fully alive—to every movement, breath, glance. We want to behold a sunset and feel shivers run down our arms; we want to belly laugh, scream, cry. We long to bear witness to the humanity of others & have the experience of it bring us to our knees—in awe, thanks, and wonder. 

This is to say: we long to live our lives into their fullest expressions. We want to taste the satisfactions of a life well-lived.

We’ve been reaching for things that can’t bring us joy—true joy, the kind that erases all emptiness. We confess our void to you, loving Father. Find us in our brokenness; our numbness; our self-pity & apathy. Find us here, once more, in the place we said we’d never visit twice: forsaking the small, yet precious, gifts of the present.

Help us look ahead with hope, but meet us right here as we are. Help us see you: you who are beginning & end; alpha & omega; creator, redeemer, friend. Help cease our mindless scrolling, believing joy to be just around the corner—across the street, in our neighbor’s yard, somewhere in the distant future—instead of right now, here, today. 

We ask you to reinfuse our days with joy. Give meaning to our monotony, & rouse our souls to a purpose beyond ourselves. Give us eyes to seek and find you in the dull, everyday existence of things. Awaken our souls from their slumber and make us alive to the reality of your presence. Give us new hearts that understand the beauty in all things, including you. You have seen, made, and known us. Let that knowledge seep and soak us to our core: that we are deeply, wholly, and perfectly loved.

The boundary lines for us have fallen in pleasant places. For you have come to us that we may have life, and have it in full. Be with us as we step boldly into that new life—filled to the brim with wonder, awe, and trust.

Amen.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

because vou will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

-Psalm 16:9-11