“I know I am dust, that one day my body will return to the earth, that I am finite and limited, self-centered and sinful: but I know equally that I am capable of giving myself in love to others and taking delight in receiving love from them. I am dust that dreams of a different destiny, for I know that I am a ‘lover-in-the-making’, and that the surest way to my true destiny is to reflect upon, give my attention to, and respond to, the one whose nature and whose name is Love. We have a natural desire to respond to beauty and truth and goodness, a natural sense of thankfulness when we are pleased or happy or in love, a natural desire to feel we are loved when we are sad or in pain or grieving, a natural sense of shame when we have caused hurt to others. Which is why ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘I trust you’ and ‘I am sorry’ are the basic ingredients of prayer life.”
Michael Mayne, Prayer (2013).