conversation

Have you (the reader) ever been completely at a loss for something to say? Have you ever just been so astounded by something another person said or did that you couldn't think of words to say? Or seen something so incredible it completely stole your voice away? If so, I don't understand you at all.
Well, that isn't entirely true. One time I had such a bad sore throat that I couldn't speak above a whisper. That, however, is the extent of my wordlessness. No matter what is said to me, I can just about always come up with a reply. I don't always say that thing, and sometimes it doesn't make sense to anyone but me, but I always have something to say.
To another person, anyway. When talking to God, on the other hand, I usually have nothing to say. I can say things like "please give me perfect grades on my math test today," or, "please give me a new guitar," but that isn't really conversation. God doesn't want my requests to be the extent of our relations.
Once I wrote a song, and entitled it "At A Loss." The lyrics were as follows.

"I'm at a loss, I have no words to say."

I was trying to write a praise/worship song. Instead, I ended up with that one line. I realized that I didn't really have anything to say--I was just filling up time and paper.
Why is it hard to talk to God? That's a really easy question to answer. Let me write a list of reasons.

1. Because He is the ruler of the universe, and we're little insignificant specks.
2. Because we can't see Him, and have a hard time with what we can't see.
3. Because we have nothing in common with Him that we can talk about.

All of these barriers can be overcome, mostly because He is constantly overcoming them so that we can talk to Him easier. Even with all barriers overcome, though, it still remains difficult. Even overcome, the barriers remain.
So what do we talk to Him about? This is, in fact, another really easy question. Jesus showed us exactly what we can talk to Him about. Look in Matthew 6:9-13. This passage is commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer, because it was prayed by our Lord Jesus.

6:9 Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
6:10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
6:11 Give us this day our daily bread;
6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

So here's what you can talk to Him about (and here's another list):

1: Worship (vv. 9-10, 13b). God loves our praise, and it's surprisingly fulfilling to praise Him.
2: Confession (v. 12). Why bother to confess sins to God, since He already knows them all? Basically, because confessing a sin to God makes the sin far less powerful in your life. God can deal with it much more effectively once you have admitted to Him that you have the sin.
3: Requests (v. 11). No one needs help with this part. I do think it's interesting, however, that this is the shortest part of the prayer, and that praise is the largest chunk. It's important, when praying, to praise more than request. If there's a long list of requests, that just means there will be a lot of praise.

I hope that this has made a difference to someone besides myself. If it didn't, I apologize for wasting your time.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell