Did the kids like the idea of stopping their play to spend 2 hours alone in silence each day?
Not really.
What did they learn during that silent time?
There was a whole world to see and appreciate when they spent the time looking.
How is their experience similar to what happens to us when we take the time to silently pray?
We begin to see God better in our lives.
We see a whole new interior world and gain new appreciation for the beauty and goodness all around us.
St. Teresa of Avila called this new interior world the ‘Interior Castle.’
What does the way Aunt Sophia helps Timothy teach us about how God leads us to learn to pray?
When we start to pray, we often feel little, lost, and stuck in a lame place with nothing good for us.
We may hear about the wonderful experiences others have in prayer and feel like we only experience a stinky, dark closet.
Like Aunt Sophia, God encourages us to try to pray again, to trust that He has infinitely more in store for us than we can imagine.
If we keep trying prayer, we will find a trap door with a ladder that leads us to heavenly heights, to beauty beyond compare.
Jesus PROMISES: “For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matt 7:8 So, keep knocking!