I was taught to fold your hands and close your eyes in prayer, yet I can’t find a single instance in Scripture where people pray with their eyes closed. People in the Bible pray while walking, standing, kneeling, or laying prostrate but nothing is recorded about people praying with eyes closed. Every morning without fail William Jay (1769-1853) took a morning prayer walk. It’s safe to assume he took his prayer walk with eyes open. Eyes open to the beauty of God’s creation. Eyes open to the enormity of human need in the faces of those he met along the way.
William Jay pastored the Independent Argyle Chapel in Bath, England for more than sixty years. He wrote a devotional called Morning Exercises that contained Bible readings and reflections for every day of the year. He wrote it for his own use which he later shared with the congregation. He would read Morning Exercises at home and then incorporate the readings into his daily prayer walk. He imagined prayer as spiritual exercise, much as we correlate physical exercise to bodily health.
In 1932, Abbot John Chapman received a letter from someone who had become despondent about his own struggles in prayer. Chapman offered this wise counsel, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t. Find ways of praying that suit you,” The Socratic dictum, “Know thyself” applies to prayer. Pray in ways that work for you. Pray in your favorite easy chair. Pray while walking. Pray with other people. Pray the Psalms. Pray before bed. Pray as you can. A prayer from William Jay: