Why it is sometimes hard to pray

"All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent."
St. Teresa of Avila

It's usually easier to talk on the phone than to text or email, not in terms of convenience and time, but in terms of clearer or fuller communication.  And it's easier to talk face to face than on the phone for the same reasons.  In person we can consider facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language as affirmations of the words spoken.  In addition, we can simply feel the person out by intuition, sensing their vibe or spiritual impressions through all of the mentioned communications.

With God it is the same, though our senses are spiritual instead of physical.  In other words, because God is a Spirit, or because He is Spirit, He simply is who He is.  He is always all of Himself, and never less than real, never other than genuine.

Prayer is simply conversation with God, the Supreme Ultimate Person, Personality, and Community of Personalities. 

But think of this.

Imagine you are with two other people who both know you, or at least know of you.  They talk to each other about you, as if you were absent.  How do you like that?  How does that make you feel? 

Or imagine you and one other person in conversation, someone you like to think of as a friend.  This "friend" talks to you as if you are absent, as if he has NO idea who or what you really are, as if she has never met you (or anyone like you) before in her life.

It's hard, if not IMPOSSIBLE, to communicate or respond to someone who speaks to you as if you are absent. 

God is all knowing, which makes Him infinitely sensitive in the most beautiful and strongest sense of the word.  He knows when He is being treated as though He isn't there (or worst of all, as though He does not exist.)

Would you share your thoughts or emotions with someone who treated you like this?