Facebook and Prayer

Facebook is about the oddest form of communication, if you think about it. Folks post random thoughts, or mundane details of their day, and "friends" can then comment. It becomes a virtual conversation about nothing. It's an artificial substitute for relationship.
I don't know how many friends you have, but I'm pretty sure it isn't 352, or whatever the sidebar on your facebook claims. I have only about 6 real friends, myself. Very few of the folks I've virtually friended actually care about me at all.

Texting is a bit odd, too, though I like it. It's nice to throw a needed bit of information to some one's phone, without getting sucked in to a whole conversation.
And yet,
Conversation, in the olden days, was much different. When you talked on the phone, you were anchored to the wall, so you couldn't do much else. Conversation was something of an art, involving subtlety, finesse, thought. Friendships involved the investment of time, and communication was either verbal or required the effort of a written dialogue.
No longer.

A gal I know posted on facebook the other day, asking friends to "send good thoughts" toward her husband. I wasn't sure how to do that. Even if I could formulate a cheery sentence in my head about him, the question of sending it...?

Which made me think that perhaps all people pray. I have always known that religious folks do, but I had never considered that it's a part of being human.
What if a function of humanity is that need to influence the course of events in those we love?
What if we're created with a desire to telepathically communicate on a cosmic level (if you will allow the Star Trek concept).
What if facebook-type communication is a gross distraction from the type of intercourse we ought to be having? (Yes, the word "intercourse" can be used of conversation, and not just of sex. Although, now that you mention it, sex in our culture is similarly affected. So many folks settle for tawdry and cheap, rather than pursuing that powerful passion that matrimonial commitment brings to the Act. What an apt analogy. Thank you for bringing it up.)

Anyway...
So, if all people pray...or if they need to, because it's intrinsic to their being, how ought it to be done?
It seems to me that it must resemble conversations of old, rather than facebook one-liners. Perhaps people fall in to the habit of "friending" God, rather than investing in a deeply committed, and mutual exchange with Him.
I wonder if our culture's careless attitude about sex, the flippant definition of friendship, and our misunderstanding of connecting with the God of Creation are all a part of the same fundamental wound?

Have you ever dropped to your knees in anguish over the heart-rending decisions of someone you love? When you know they're self-destructing, and you can't do a thing about it....your only hope is that God will hear the cry of your heart, and intervene...? That, I think, is part of what prayer is meant to be. Such anguish of soul changes us, and the bible teaches that it can even move the Hand of God.
What if all communication, with God and with others, could change us? It would be a far cry from what we've grown used to.

That's what I want. I want to be deeply impacted by the communication in my life. I want to speak when I have something to say, and listen as if I am about to learn something important.
I want my relationships to matter, and I really want my prayers to be effective.
Amen, and amen.