Prayer, Ritual, and Water for the Birds

Years ago, I interviewed a number of women and asked them about their prayer lives. Each one told me her life's story. 

I wondered why they didn't address my question. Were their prayers too personal to share? Were their experiences indescribable? 

I considered the project a failure, but recently I realized that I'd been presuming to know what prayer is.

Maybe by telling me about their lives, they were telling me about their prayers. Maybe prayer isn't something you do while holding a siddur or while pressing your palms together. Perhaps prayer is more than the words you say to the unknowable. Maybe prayer is how you live and aspire and grow. 

Ritual doesn't need to fit into a mold either. My friend, Mary, and I had only a couple of minutes to plan our Equinox ritual today. There was just a little bit of form to frame our spontaneous celebration-- and our ritual was wonderful.

And also, for me, there's a daily, summer ritual. I'd forgotten about it until last week. I saw the first quail of the year, so I put tin, pie pans in depressions around my yard and filled them with water. Since the rims are at ground level, baby quail will be able to drink from them. 

As in other years, I fill them as soon as I wake up each morning. It's a simple ritual, and not "spiritual," but starting the habit again put me into a different consciousness.

Soon, the hummingbirds will return and I'll put out feeders for them, and for the bees and butterflies.

from pinterest.com