At Killing the Buddha, Goldwag writes:
The God I choose not to pray to is the source of the infinitely vast and the impossibly intricate—of the Spiral Nebula and the double helix; of redwood trees in nature and the dendritic trees in my brain. We stand in relationship to each other, this God and I, but we don’t have a relationship, any more than one of the cells in my liver could relate meaningfully to me.
Alright, believers: If you pray, what sorts of things are included in your prayers? I find myself, the older I get, more prone to pray for others — both people I know and people I don’t. It’s not that I’m all set, but I’m pretty much all set and feel it would be rude to put in a request or two. I sometimes pray just to say hi. Or I’ve been driving around New Mexico and when I’m in the car by myself, I’ll round a corner and say, “God! Look at that” vista or whatever, and then start giggling because I’m pretty sure God’s seen it. She lives out here.
And non-believers: If prayer isn’t in your world, do you sit quietly and contemplate? And when you do that, is it directed anywhere in particular? I’m not asking to bait you, I promise.
Dating Jesus 
For others–healing, comfort in their sorrows, praise for their joy
Thanksgiving–for God’s blessings [for others and self], for his healing of sick friends and family, for his beautiful vistas, for his love for his creation, for our country, for friends, for the guidance of parents and church family, for the blessing of spouse, children and grandchildren.
Guidance–for self and others, to know him more intimately
That is flat-dab beautiful, and I mean it.
Amen.
I haven’t been praying much. I’m a bit confused about who he she is and I’m not sure I should be asking for stuff. I do pray with the kids every night and we bless meals with a Catholic prayer I grew up on.
Well, now I know the strikethrough doesn’t work here!
Bless, o Lord, for these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive etc.? We used that one with my kids. I’m trying to turn my prayers into conversations. When She answers back, though, I believe I shall crash the car or pee my pants, one.
That’s the one.
I guess at this point I just don’t know what to say. I *think* the way I’m supposed to pray is like you said, a conversation. I just don’t know how to begin talking to someone who has maybe been here the whole time and I haven’t talked to Him yet.
I go in spurts with this, myself. I will talk to God a lot, and then I won’t, and then I’ll start up again. And yeah, it feels weird sometimes. I try not to load up on requests (figure God has bigger issues with which to deal than whether or not that traffic light works in my favor) but, well, yeah.
I keep waiting for God to respond. I do pray for other people, but then I also wonder if anyone is really listening. Why no response? Really – why no communication back? If praying is just to calm and comfort myself and acknowledge the blessings in my life, then ok. But if God is listening, why can’t she/he say something back to us?
I was taught that God answers, but not with the human voice. Sometimes, the answer is “no:” (“God, please let my puppy live,” and the puppy dies, etc.) I have no great answer on this. We need someone who isn’t arm-wrestling with God to tell us about their prayer life.
I was taught that, too, but it just doesn’t make much sense to me now. The other thing I was taught was that “the faithful know God hears our prayers” and that seems unfair, too.
Yeah, like a veiled kind of “Quit whining!” I want more concrete evidence, myself. It’s why I sit in the cheap seats!