Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Consciousness and Prayer Part 7
July 5, 2025
At first blush, the words “prayer changes things” make us think that prayer causes things to happen. While change is often the result of prayer, it does not manipulate circumstance or wave a magic wand. Prayer does not necessarily change things to be how we want them to be. If that were true, everyone would pray for what they want and receive it. People could pray to win the lottery, to find their true love the next day, and be healed at once from all sorts of maladies, and they would get their wish just because they prayed for it.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 6
July 4, 2025
We want something. Maybe it concerns our hopes, fears, dreams, or our very identity. Perhaps we pray for deliverance from something we dread or for healing a mental or physical condition. We make the prayer but for some reason it seems to bounce off the ceiling. We ask ourselves, “Why do I doubt that the answer will be granted?” We may think we are not deserving of the answer we pray for, or we may feel that God, whomever we conceive God to be, has ignored us. In such times we may despair, abandon hope, and anticipate no relief from our hardship.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 5
July 3, 2025
Our divine connection is the most essential aspect of our spiritual practice. It draws us closer to the Divine and opens communication. This connection happens in many ways; however, conscious prayer is the most intimate and interactive form.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 4
July 2, 2025
We offer prayers for praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. The overarching goal is not necessarily to ask anything of the Divine but to express gratefulness. These prayers are filled with praise for the wonderful things attributed to God and for specific prayers answered.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 3
July 1, 2025
Prayer changes things. Why? Because inviting the Higher Power into the situation changes our consciousness. The act of praying is an elevation of mind and spirit. In prayer we ask for a higher order. We affirm that there are higher ways than our ways. In sincere prayer, we create a landing pad for the Holy Spirit. Inherent in making such a sacred space is surrendering our ideas of how things should go. We are free to receive something different when we let go of a required outcome.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 2
June 30, 2025
Whether rich, poor, educated, uneducated, spiritually developed or not, all of us can be ruled by ego, even when we pray— and all of us have the potential to be governed by the soul and when this is true, our prayers come from our soul. In the New Testament book of Matthew, Jesus instructed us to go into our closet to pray, far away from those who would hear us. Jesus’s word “closet” is from the Greek “tameion” a storage chamber or secret room that is well-guarded. Jesus’s Aramaic word for the closet was “Tawanaah,” a room where valuables and supplies are stored, a room without windows. It is a metaphor for a place of solitude and spiritual reflection, free from distractions and public displays of piety.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 1
June 29, 2025
What is prayer? Is it a request to the Divine? Is it a method to transform our minds? Is it a ritual to meet a spiritual obligation? Is it a perfunctory nod to the Divine? Is it an act of desperation? Is it bargaining with the Divine? Is it a practice to restore our peace? Is it to intercede on behalf of others? Is it a conversation with the Divine? Is it a plea to the Divine?