This is a poem to challenge those with heavy faith to step outside their faith box and ask what they are really praying for.

What about the people who aren’t believers and yet they pray during hard times?

I caught myself one day driving down a dark highway. I was scared and concerned for my safety. I started to talk out loud and ask God for help.

I’m not a huge believer, but I’m not a non-believer. I can’t say I’ve ever prayed aloud before. I think in life we all find ourselves in predicaments we never imagined we would be in. In our fears, we pray. The truth is, the key to success in life is to look to yourself for the answers.

When you are faced with any challenge, big or small, the only thing that will get out of it is yourself.

When life is hard we all pray
Sometimes to a god we aren’t sure we believe in
We barter, God please help me and I’ll do this.
God, I won’t ever do this of you get me out of this situation
When struggles are upon us, we talk out loud
Screaming, begging for guidance
Asking for clarity
We bargain with this eluded creature
We gain confidence
We pray, to your God, to my God, to goddess or nature or whatever supreme being we believe in at that moment
We hold on tight to the notion that this mysterious force in the universe will save us from our own destiny
Our own decisions
We pray, we barter, hope, promise
That if someone else helps us from our own life, we will change.

We are speaking to ourselves
We are begging our subconscious mind to believe the conscious one
We are bartering with our own thoughts and emotions, asking ourselves to forgive
We need to forgive our own wrong doing
We need to let go of past angers that have brought us to this place
We need to believe in not another force, but ourself.
We need to trust that the only Guidance we need is our own.

No one writes the paper of our lives, but us
That is the true prayer
To love yourself and be honest with yourself
The universe then comes together

Author: Kat Maerz 

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: _Gavroche_ at Flickr