Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

Excerpts from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, by C.S. Lewis

*

Let's come clean. Prayer is difficult. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over it casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us. The odd thing is that reluctance to pray is not confined to periods of dryness. When yesterday's prayers are full of comfort and exaltation, todays will be felt, in some degree, to be a burden… I haven't language weak enough to depict my spiritual life. If I weakened it enough it would cease to be language at all. Like when you try to turn the gas ring a littler lower still, and it merely goes out.