This week’s sketch is a visual diagram of what a prayer looks like. The engineer in me chose to re-create the drawing digitally, delaying my post! I imagine prayer, when it is healthy, looks much like a tree. The central focus of praying is direct communication with God. The center line of the ‘tree’ is perfectly vertical with an arrow-head pointing up. The next focus of our prayers spread outward through praying for other people. On each side of the central arrow are arrows pointing up, but spreading out like arms reaching to embrace another. Lastly, on the outer edges of the tree are arrows that U-turn back toward the one praying, these are the personal requests we make for ourselves. Full, symmetrical shape is the first indicator of a healthy tree. Trees whose limbs are all laying on the ground to ones with no limbs at all are sick, dying trees. The same is true of prayer. Too much of any one part in this diagram makes the image appear unbalanced, pointing to a sick and dying prayer life. How’s  your balance?