The reminder to pray for ourselves is a good one.  Jesus tells us time and again to talk to God and to listen.  He did it loads of times in his story in the gospels; some of his great adventures took place just after he had gone somewhere private for a conversation with the person that he called 'Abba', which means 'Father'.

Jesus made a point of saying that personal prayers, conversations with God, should not be 'on street corners', making a point to everyone around about what a good person you are.  No, he said, that belongs to people without faith, who need that kind of adulation and who need followers around them who think that their leader is special, partly because of their public praying.

Instead, go to a private room (or, in Jesus's case, up mountains, across lakes to lonely places or into a garden alone (such as the one at Gethsemane, where he went to ask God to 'let him off' from being crucified because he was frightened, before calming and saying 'your will, not mine').  When you are there, he says, speak to God and listen; tell him your hopes and fears.  After all, says Jesus, he knows all this already but he wants you to talk it out with him and listen for his reply.  But do it privately.

What great advice!  If we feel terrible and have no way forward or even if we just can't make up our mind about something, is there anyone better to talk with?

One of my colleagues on a training course introduced a dramatised prayer sequence said by three or four people, each acting the part of God.  Each person would say something like, 'If you need a shoulder to cry on, just talk to me,' or 'When you need some help, just talk to me,' and so on.  The message was that when you want some answers or even if you just need to say something, there is nothing fancy to do, just talk to God.  That is what prayer is.

One of my friends used to say from time to time in Bible Study, 'I talk to God a lot.  I know that he's always there and I just talk to him as though it was someone in the room with me, because he is'.  She lived through a lot and endured a lot yet her thoughts always seemed to be for others.  She had God to talk to about anything else so she didn't have to burden any of her human friends.

Let's celebrate talking with God and have some conversations about ourselves with him.  As Jesus tells us, God loves us absolutely unconditionally; he wants the best for us all the time and wants to help.  Amen.