by Kate Westwood
Prayer is an important part of many people's lives. It is a way to connect with a higher power and ask for guidance, strength, and help. Prayer can also be a form of self-care, a way to quiet the mind and connect with something larger than oneself. For many people, prayer is a way to find peace and calm in the midst of chaos and stress.
The best part is that you can pray from literally anywhere and anytime, alone, in the company of peers, or with family. Praying as a family is important because it strengthens the bond between family members and allows everyone to share their thoughts and feelings with each other.
Besides being a unifying factor, it also gives everyone a chance to express their gratitude for the things they have been blessed with. Additionally, praying as a family can help to teach children the importance of prayer and how to pray.
Below are seven creative ways to pray at home, alone, or as a family.
1. Say Prayers before Mealtime around the Dinner Table
Mealtime is a time for families to connect and communicate while catching up with each other’s successes, events, or challenges in life. It's also among the best times to pray together as you express gratitude before eating. Offer a prayer before each meal or allow the children to say a prayer before they begin to eat.
This practice allows the family to bond together and be at peace in the face of hunger and busy schedules. You can have the family members say Grace in turns or select a simple prayer that you recite before meals while everyone is gathered around the dinner table and holding hands.
2. Use Art to Pray
It is a beautiful practice to pray with your children by using art as a tool. You can create a prayer board where the kids can express their gratitude for all that they have been blessed with. Your kids will be thankful for the opportunity to create a prayer board and learn to practice gratitude.
You can even create a prayer book using craft supplies and coloring books, where the kids can take turns in writing their prayers to the Almighty God and associating these prayers with certain colors. Besides just helping your kids to learn and practice praying, it's also a good way to instill a sense of responsibility, accountability, and positive thinking.
3. Use Prayer Candles
There is something beautiful about lighting candles for prayer. And when saying prayers in your home, it becomes a sacred space and thus should be treated that way. Lighting a candle in the home can inspire a feeling of serenity and peace.
When getting some, consider going for prayer candles with peaceful scent inspires calm. Also, it’s best to choose candles in colors such as pink and white. White symbolizes purity and innocence, whereas pink is largely considered the color of compassion.
Say a prayer by candlelight before turning in for the night or even in the daytime when it’s calm and silent. When using a prayer candle, be sure to place it in a safe location away from any flammable materials. Light the candle and let it burn for a few minutes before blowing it out. Repeat this process for as long as you wish to pray.
4. Get a Prayer Mat
If you’ve made praying at home a continuous practice, there are some of those days you’ll want to pray while sitting on the floor or kneeling. In such cases, a prayer mat becomes an amazing tool to help you carry on with your prayers without necessarily ending up with sore knees or behinds.
Moreover, a prayer mat can have a symbolic meaning. It can be a continuous reminder that you need to stay closer to God your maker, and this means speaking to him more often. The best thing about a prayer mat is that it’s portable, meaning you can use it to say prayers from literally any part of your house, including outdoor spaces.
5. Make a Prayer Jar
Along with a prayer mat, a prayer jar will add a sacred and permanent touch to your home or prayer space. As you start your prayers, the first thing that pops into your head may be, “How can I improve the situation? or How can I help others who are in need?”’
Whatever your first thought may be, you’ll want to try and channel it into a prayer – and it doesn’t necessarily have to be said out loud.
You, perhaps including your family members, can write down your prayers and drop them into a prayer jar whenever the thought of what to pray for comes to mind. Maybe over the weekend, you can then open the jar and have family members read the prayers out loud.
From there, you can all pray together over the prayer items that have just been read out. Furthermore, a prayer jar can be strategically placed in the home to remind everyone to pray every day.
6. Learn To Pray the Rosary
If you’re serious about making prayer a habit in your home, why not learn to pray The Rosary? By learning to say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, you’ll be well on your way to creating a prayer life, and you may even consider incorporating them into your daily prayer routines.
Rosary prayers also help to reinforce a sense of unity and peace in the home and can be used to remind everyone to pray.
In addition, this tradition is older than Christ himself and can be traced back to ancient Babylonian times. Being a practice that is over 2000 years old, you might think that The Rosary prayer is time-consuming, but it actually doesn’t take a lot of time at all to master and practice.
7. Start a Bible Study
A Bible study might seem like a daunting task at first, especially if you’ve never done one before. But if you would like to turn prayer into a way of life for yourself and your family, a Bible study can be a great first step.
You might need nothing more than just 30 minutes each week to incorporate Bible Study into your prayer routine.
While prayer has been an important practice for us since the dawn of humanity, the rise of the internet and social media has provided unprecedented opportunities to practice and share prayer, which ultimately leads to a deeper spiritual awakening in our lives. The above pointers can go a long way in inspiring your prayer sessions from home either alone or with family.