That is wonderfully encouraging! Usually I do not think of myself as “great in prayer” because I can rarely muster the energy or discipline for the long morning quiet time. It is extremely difficult for me. But I DO pray exactly as Peterson has outlined above, sprinkling in more “focused” prayer times. I guess I’ve always been a bit embarassed about it. But I suppose that “contrary to [my] own willingness to say so, [I] pray far more than we think.”

I’m reading this book and just read that part a couple days ago. It was encouraging to me for the same reasons Scott E. says above.
Growing up I was trained to have a “quiet time” every day and pray, but I really struggle with that and have felt like a lesser-christian because of it.
I find that if I just tune my spirit right, like tuning your TV to play a DVD or Wii or something, I talk to God all day, and he talks to me.
I hope that counts as much as 30 minutes dedicated to prayer.

I too like this very, very much. I also think your comment at the end is important regarding saturating the mind with Jesus and the Scriptures. I think that when this is happening, the kind of prayer that Peterson acknowledges is a natural by-product.

This reminds me of Frank Laubach’s practice of trying to turn his thoughts toward Jesus at least once a minute as a discipline of “praying continually.”

Continuous prayer is an old idea that more people definitely need to hear! It’s amazing how just including God in a few more areas of your day (just by offering up whatever you’re about to do as prayer) can make such a huge difference!
The Way of a Pilgrim by Helen Bacovcin and Walter J. Ciszek
and
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrenence
are two really great books that talk more about this too

This touches on Willard’s thought in which he references several OT and NT passages that, as disciples, we are learning thru the Spirit to live in such a way that God is always on our mind/heart – in whatever we are doing.

I am glad to see other comments point out that training the heart to “pray without ceasing” is an achievable reality. The spiritual fathers and mothers of the church offer down-to-earth direction for cultivating the kind of prayer life that Eugene Peterson describes. It is possible to be actively engaged in the (mental or physical) work at hand AND to be praying at a deeper level. I’m still on the journey, but this vision of prayer delivers us from the trap of the guilt-tripping “quiet time” format.

…I got the book, but haven’t had a chance to open it yet….
I have, however, been practicing prayer this way for years. I got started, oh, 25 years ago working through Harry Emerson Fosdick’s “The Meaning of Prayer” and had to really hold my ground when my senior seminar on prayer was obviously more geared to the “routine” kind.
To his credit, my professor respected my way because I did document it fully and explained my way of thinking and being. Walking with God is how some people describe it. And as I am processing what Wayne Jacobsen means by “living loved by God”, I find that this is the core of that: living loved is being aware of God’s presence and choosing to trust that “they” are always at work in my life and offering my opportunities to join “them” in their work — in me and in my sphere of influence.
…no more guilt! ;^)