Owing to the fact that each of us is distinct in our being, feelings, and action, thus the relationship of “friendship” with God acquires nuances and unique shades depending on the moods, rhythms of growth, different psychosomatic dispositions and age, etc. of the person who prays.
Every person who prays will be essentially different from one another, but prayer can also vary within each person, depending on the moment and the day . As well, personal predispositions can affect prayer, for example an intellectual person´s prayer will be different from someone who is emotional.
The relationship of each person to her or his surroundings is different. A child, a man or a woman each deals and faces the world in a different way. The encounter of a timid, an assertive, an impatient, or a quiet person with the world is different, and so is their encounter with God.
The ability to conceive deep thoughts, maintain emotional stability, make decisions and persevere depends sometimes on chronological age but more often depends on causes unknown to us.
All these factors affect decisively the quality and deepness of prayer. Youthful fervor seems to some adults as pure sentimentalism. Others consider that fervor -long dead for them- as an irreplaceable lost treasure and that they long for.
The encounter with God, as an integral part of life, will continue to adapt itself to the changing dispositions of the person. Worries, sickness, depression, euphoria, simple fatigue may make a certain type of encounter with God difficult or impossible, or may even favor it.
Just as relationships are an essential part of life, and life requires adaptation, so our relationship with God will adapt with vitality and flexibility to each person´s circumstances, alternating in assistance or or obstacles, enthusiasm or difficulty, intelligence or imagination, devotion or dry faith, giving rise to new or unexpected forms in each one of us.
From the book Sensing your Hidden Presence by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga
