For me, the heart of prayer is making myself available to God, allowing whatever is there to arise. We spend so much of our energy censoring our interior thoughts and feelings, or perhaps we stay so busy we’re not even aware the interior realm is there.

But it is, and it belongs to God, too. The entire spectrum — from the loftiest of dreams to the parts we’re not so proud of. One of the greatest damages of the traditional conception of “sin” is that there are parts of us unworthy of God’s love. That’s simply not true. God loves and accepts us exactly as we are, while calling us to continued growth in the many areas of our lives.

There’s no better way to achieve that growth than to bring ourselves to God in our entirety. A beautiful kind of partnership happens when we are willing to let God into ourselves. It’s not that God isn’t there already — God is — but somehow our surrender allows us to know that.

“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” — Revelation 3:20 (New Living Translation)

How far do you let God into your life? How might you practice opening the door a little bit further?