17/03/2026
Freeflow | How Do You Say the Proper Prayer?
By Michael B. Dupaya
I come home from school, dog-tired. I dress, I cook, pack up my things and eat. I wash my face, do my assignments, and I pray– I pray to God. I pray to God how my day went, every detail I look over, I pray for more and count my blessings. Every now and then, I look forward but feel as though something's missing– it's always the same.
Don't you just feel those times that when you pray to God everything becomes redundant? I pray for things like good health, a bright future, a decent job, and all sorts of things that we call "good."
Everyday and every night, it all becomes so routinely that I can't help that we put up with ourselves over nothing, things we wish for in our own lives when some things we seldom even consider at most. We expect linear blessings as if we were entitled to it but fail to improve what is necessary to take a step forward.
How would it change if it were so routinely that your life depended on it? Where do you begin? How do you address your own situation? How do you say the proper thing out of concern for others? How do you say the proper prayer?
To savor it like it's important, to treat it like it's your last. Put up with it and trust to put your burdens onto Him but– how? How can you when you can't even start on what is true to yourself?
Out of love, how do you show endearment for a loved one? To show that you truly love them like God's Faith, show willingness enough to care? That not even a finger of malice ever affects their purity in any way. It's so hard to be so reasonable in today's standards, always full of unwritten rules and complicated excuses. Do we even know what good is, and what we truly pray will ever benefit us in the end?
How do I say the proper prayer if I'm unsure of myself? What if I don't really know what I want? What are the things important to me? What are the things that are best for myself and others? Do I really think that this is the best for someone I love? Yet, if I can't even recognize myself, how do I care for those I love? Double-minded, restless, how can I explain this when it's not that simple, even with everything I carry– when everything goes against my way? Where do I begin in a confused prayer?
It's to trust in God that everything will be all right. Need not to worry as long as we have trust in Him, to be by His side. To say the proper prayer, you ask for forgiveness and opportunity to reflect. Maybe the most important thing wasn't about preaching, but prioritizing the things that are most important to us, and we do these things in what we obligate and see in ourselves.
A prayer will never work without commitment, but it will work if it were given a purpose to be committed. Once you wish all the best for those you love, you find in your very presence that all inclinations of the world pray for what truly matters, who you love. And because you love, you align with God's own ways, transcending all through Faith and in never-ending Grace, and because it is your calling that he intercedes through all harmony.
They are important because of you, you gave purpose to the prayers because of you, and that is God working because of you.
Maybe it's okay to be unsure with yourself. It's okay not to know what you want, the pain of not recognizing. You have all the time in the world, take your time. It's okay, take a breath and try again. Confusion is part of the process. Everything will all fall in God's Grace.
Maybe it doesn't have to make sense now. You don't need to understand yourself fully to love another, love is what helps you to understand, to love yourself. You don't have to be whole to care, sometimes caring is the very thing that makes you whole. Perhaps to truly love is to be unsure, to be uncertain but choose to love what you truly cherish. Maybe that's the grace of it all, and the Faith to keep on going.
How do you say the proper prayer? You don't. It was never about saying the proper thing. It was neither the length nor quality, formality, tonality of what we say in the presence of God, never what we wanted, chose over wants and needs. God is always in our presence; it's not about what we say, it's a reflection of what you hold dear for you to be.
Maybe I yearn for the things that I want, but I only pray for a good university, a small group of friends, my safety and prosperity. I pray to be a better student to gain better grades, I pray for healthier food and a secure roof over my head, more opportunities up ahead. I pray that my family is always safe, I pray for my loved ones to have brighter lives down the way. I pray for my friends to always stay true to themselves, and for a certain someone I call my best friend.
Not until you recognize the simplicity for what it is, you will be content with what is. That is what matters. That is how you say a proper prayer.
