Stretching

Prayer for me is spiritual stretching.  When I wake up in the morning, I stretch, even before I get out of bed.  I know that my body needs to be stretched if it is going to function well, or at least with minimal pain.  I do the same thing with my soul.  Before I get out of bed, I pray.  I know that left to myself, with no spiritual help, or reinforcement, I will have a worse day than if I stretch my soul by prayer.  Both body and soul need assistance in my case.  Left unattended, both body and soul will not do very well that day.  And even if I escape a bad day in spite of ignoring my body and soul, I may begin to develop a bad habit of skipping the stretching tomorrow.  Soon enough, the mess will happen.  So I try to stay in good stretching habits each day.