Some say that there are four major stages in life: 1) the student, 2) the householder, 3) the forest dweller, 4) the wise one. I am in the third stage, a forest dweller. This is true for me chronologically, spiritually, and it also happens to be true physically as my wife and I are living in a cabin on a wooded lot in the foothills of western North Carolina.

My understanding of this stage is that one now focuses on relationships; their relationship with nature, self, family, friends, but primarily forest dwellers focus on their relationship with God. As I consider ways of practicing this, I am finding that in spite of being baptized as an infant, calling myself Christian since 1971, and serving as a United Methodist minister for over thirty years, I am something of a novice when it comes to walking with the Holy One.

I don’t want to overstate this because these six plus decades have truly been an amazing adventure but sometimes it feels like the Lord and I have simply worked on several projects together, talked on the phone a good bit, and have some mutual friends. Often when I take prayer walks, look at mountains, or watch water falls, I wonder just what it means to give attention to my relationship with God and I realize that I am very much in the first steps of this journey of knowing and being known by the one who, as Anslem said, “is beyond that which can be grasped,” and yet is closer than breath itself.

It’s going to be a long journey, much longer than a thousand miles but it still begins with that next faithful step. So, here’s the question; what is the next step? Or, to put it another way, if a friend asked you what is the one thing, the most important thing, they can do to improve their relationship with Christ, what would you tell them?

I have asked a lot of people that question and I have heard a lot of different answers. Many have said that studying the Bible is the best way to grow. Others say that serving others, seeing and experiencing Christ in the “least of these” is the key. A good hiking buddy says he ponders nature, the creator’s first bible, and there Christ is most real. There are a lot of legitimate answers to the question but here’s mine: prayer. I believe that learning to pray is the foundation. The relationship is built on prayer.

So Luke 11:1 is the theme verse for this forest dweller who is hoping to grow in friendship with the Incarnate One. “Lord, teach us (me) to pray.”

I believe I’ll pray that, ponder that, practice that for a while.