I am now starting to pray the rosary audible outside in my backyard, but not loud enough for my neighbours to hear. I have never prayed outside before like this, because my backyard is very exposed and my neighbours can look right in. I love privacy. The thing is saying my prayers outside surrounded by nature is so much more natural than saying them behind four walls. It took courage at first. What are the neighbours are going to think? I am ashamed I have to admit that. I don’t think any of my neighbours really think it is a normal thing to do.  Or even believe that I have the right to do it. Society has condition them to think this way as well as many Christians. What gave me the courage to do it was, I thought, why shouldn’t I do what is natural for me. I am not making a nuisance of myself.

Seeing things that I would not normal be able to enjoy, like a very big beautiful blue butterfly flew over my head and a bird I believe not from these parts. Thanks to my phobias I have spent most of my life indoors and now I am really making up for lost time. Some people might be complaining by now and say ‘you are supposed to say your prayers in secret like the Lord has told you too.’ There are two different verses I want to show you, that seem to contradict one another, but in fact they do not. You have to ask when you are reading them, what Jesus is actually saying here. I believe too many people only study at face value like they do with everything else, including people they have just met. When in truth life is very deep.

Matthew 6: 5-6

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 5: 14-16

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Some people might say that sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. What Jesus is simply saying is do everything for the glory of God, so that people will come to know God by your actions. You have to ask God for guidance what He wants you to do on any given moment. What was right one day, may not be the right thing to do today. God always looks into the heart of a thing. Saying your prayers in your own backyard despite what your neighbours might think, if done for love of God is so different from doing it just to seek attention. This new practise has brought me even closer to Him than praying to Him in my house. I see God more in nature than a picture of Jesus for example. Though I do love all my religious pictures and wouldn’t like to part with them. I just need both that is all!

A good yard stick to measure if you are doing it for your glory, or for the glory of God’s, is to ask yourself ‘does it bring me closer to God or not?’ Jesus said people who will enter heaven are like a small child. Meaning pure and innocent. Children see everything differently, they don’t complicate things. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and at other times we just have fun, but in both cases we will end up praising God more. The more we serve God with love for Him in all humility, the greater your good deeds will eventually bear fruit that will glorify God. Don’t expect to be perfect all the time. We do misjudge and have to redo things for the Lord. I am sure people who have read a number of my articles can see that with my writings also. We can only pray and try to do our best.