When I was a little girl, we were taught to pray by using TSP (Thank you, Sorry, Please). When I was a little older, I was taught to pray using my hand (the pinkie is the world; the ring finger are sick people; the middle finger represents leaders; the index finger the church; and the thumb, ourselves). So I used both of these in conjunction this morning to pray today.
I prayed for approximately 10 minutes of thanks, then 10 mins sorry, then 10 mins please. I incorporated apologies for things I've done wrong in thought, actions and speech, and also apologies for things my culture, town, country and world have done wrong, e.g. destroying natural habitats. I used the please time for requests for myself (mainly to be a better person) and intercessions for people, countries and situations I'm concerned about at the moment. My thanks included the beautiful weather I had today!
I found 10 minutes of lots of little prayers (thanks for... thanks for... thank you for...; please please please) felt a bit awkward; a little like a child praying, which indeed it was for me the last time I regularly used it. I also found that it limited my scope for prayer, and reduced the amount of 'listening' I did. A useful method for when you're asked to lead intercessions in church with little warning, but maybe not a technique I will use regularly in my prayer life, unless I was very sick or tired.
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