How long does it take you to get ready? Most of us have a routine before we go out, especially first thing in the morning. We may brush our teeth, comb our hair, and change our clothes to make ourselves presentable. From the time we get out of bed until the time we walk out the door, we undergo a transfiguration of sorts. We don’t want just anyone to see us before we transfigure. But, that’s exactly who God wants to see in prayer.

   One of the practices that we are called to be about during Lent is prayer. While God wants to transfigure us in prayer, God wants that transfiguration to be something that he does with us, not that we try to do before we even get to Him. One of the key attitudes that we can come with to prayer is vulnerability, bringing our entire lives to God as it is, not as we may wish it were. When we come to God in prayer, we are called to lay our entire life open before him, our spiritual uncombed hair and unbrushed teeth, you could say. Coming before God with an attitude, as it says in Psalm 40, “Here I am Lord.”

   The transfiguration in prayer, that perhaps God most desires for us will come only when we allow ourselves to truly be opened to God. When we offer to him and open to him, the whole of our lives, not just the parts that we like, but our weakest ugliest parts as well, then we open up an avenue for God to truly change us. Prayers about laying before God, our true self, not the false self, that we often present to others.

   This coming week I challenge myself and all of us to truly dare to be vulnerable with God in prayer. Lay the real you, the real me, out there before Him. Are you struggling? Are you impatient? Do you have doubts? Have the courage to echo the words of the Psalm, “Here I am, Lord.”