“Prayer comes before speech.” Anne Wenger

Anne Wenger was a local saintly woman where i grew up. I knew her for many years, she taught me, but at the end of her life, i used to visit at her house for prayer. She often used to tell me she would practice thinking with her heart in prayer before she spoke. Don’t just talk off the top of your head, speak from the heart, she would say to me. By heart, she didn’t just mean emotions, but more like your deeper inner self—the center of a person.
It was a prayer practice for her. She knew i was also a “fast talker” or babbling brook, so needed to learn to pause before speaking, so i could speak from the heart, the place in His Heart. Silence is a necessary practice for babbling brooks! Think before you speak, they used to say, but her word was deeper, pray before you talk.
We would pray for hours each visit. I remember her particular concerns for her family and others, because we prayed together often. You tend to learn what’s really on another’s heart when you pray together. That’s one of the fruits of prayer—true intimacy.
Then we would talk books and life. She loved books, and left me many when she died. But we always started our times and ended them in prayer.
At the end of her life, she prayed two pages worth of words over my own life. They’ve been a guide ever since. But i also remember her simple, pray before you babble talk she gave me! Prayer also teaches patience on many levels!
I’m still learning what that saint was trying to teach me way back then! Prayer precedes speech. Good practice still.
The saints never stop teaching us! And it appears we are never done learning and growing up! And, I’m still a fast talker, but i think i pause more often now before i speak. I hope so. Selah!