Following Richard Beck’s lead, I will attempt to answer in quick, bulleted form why I pray, even if and when most prayer requests go unanswered. I pray because in prayer:
- amplifies, directs, and actionizes my empathy,
- pledges my allegiance to God (or, if He isn’t real, the idea of Him and the virtues it represents to me),
- develops self-control,
- helps me sort out my thoughts,
- gets me outside,
- is generally healthy, like meditation, for the mind, and
- does, particularly on those rare occasions when I feel like God is directing me to pray something very specific, lead to answers!