Too busy. Check.
Too tired. Check.
Too distracted. Check.
Too angry. Check.

We've all heard of these excuses before...mainly because we've all used them with God and ourselves. Life comes at us hard, and let's face it, prayer just doesn't make our to-do list in between soccer practice, piano lessons, preparing for that meeting at work, washing the laundry and changing that diaper. Carving out time just to use the restroom can be a feat for some.

So how can we follow this mandate from our Lord and Savior when we just don't feel like it or don't know how to fit it in our schedules?

Since I've probably stressed some of you out simply by reading the above, let's take a step back from this question and ask another instead. Why is it that we consider prayer something we have to set aside time to do? Could it be that we just don't know what it really means to pray?

Prayer doesn't have to be this neat, tidy thing we do only when we feel spiritual, reverent, and like we have something of worth to bring before the throne of God.

NEWS FLASH! The something of worth we have to bring before God is ourselves. After all, he sent his only Son to die for us...so we mean something to Him! God's interested in what's on our hearts and minds. He wants us to pray about everything all the time (1 Thess. 5:17). It doesn't have to come in this super-spiritual package for it to breach the heavens and reach His ear.

Our prayers can be selfish, angry, frustrated, silly, or undecipherable because it's so late and we're slurring our words due to lack of sleep, and God would still be interested! I know God listens when my 2-year old prays for Judy, her dolly. God doesn't care that Judy's not real. He cares that my little girl's heart is burdened with praying for a doll she spends much of her time with and who enters her thoughts daily. She prays what's on her heart, and she's so honest about it that it can be hysterically funny or shocking enough to make your jaw drop.

It's actually possible to pray without ceasing if we keep God abreast of our internal stream of consciousness. Prayer doesn't have to be a spiritually "meaty" downpour, but it can be more like a constant drip from the leaky faucet of our mind. It's just us talking to God.

King David really had this type of prayer down. Look at Psalm 109 when you have a chance. It's 20 verses of David really letting loose and asking the Lord to do all sorts of terrible things to some enemy who has crossed him and used him ill, and then in verse 21, David asks God to deal kindly with him and show him favor as if he hadn't just said/written something eye-popping a few verses earlier.

Doesn't this describe some of our very own thoughts in a given minute? If King David could do it, what's to keep us from giving God a steady play-by-play of them? The answer is nothing.

When we define prayer as sharing even the little irreverent things on our minds, I think we'll discover how easy it is to pray without ceasing.

Jeannie Campbell is a Christ-follower, wife, mother and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, in that order. She got her masters of divinity in psychology and counseling from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and her bachelors in psychology and journalism from The University of Mississippi. She's a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and American Christian Fiction Writers. In her spare time, she writes feature articles for magazines and local newspapers and blog posts for The Character Therapist. Email Jeannie.