Last week I completely messed up an imaginary fruit dinner my son was trying to teach me to make. I grabbed a red plastic pot and tried to use it as the mixing bowl for the bananas. "NO DADDY! Not like that!" Then I picked up the wrong spoon and began stirring in the wrong direction. “NO DADDY! STOP!" He had had enough. I couldn't follow his directions and my way wasn't getting it done. He decided to step in and show me how to do it. "Like this. See?"  

That's what I love about Martin Luther's letter A Simple Way to Pray. Master Peter, his long time friend and barber, asked for praying lessons and in this little book Luther says, “Let me show you how I do it.” Prayer isn't something you know how to do the minute you become a Christian, but it is something you need the minute you become a Christian. If you don’t know how to pray, don't worry you are in good company. It's one of the first things the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. And he did. He said, “This is how you should pray," and then he showed them.

  You can download and read Luther's letter in one sitting. He invites you to listen to him pray. It's a good start. Besides the Bible, by far this has been the most helpful book in guiding my prayers. Sometimes we need someone to say to us, "Like this."