WSMR observes National Prayer Breakfast

White Sands Missile Range held breakfast for Service Members and civilians in observance of the National Prayer Breakfast March 5 at the Frontier Club.

Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Kraig A. Smith was the guest speaker. Smith is the Wing Chaplain at the 49th Wing, Holloman Air Force Base.

Smith started off with a prayer and thanked the WSMR leadership for the invitation.

He then went on to talk about the importance of prayer and how prayer is part of the culture.

Smith said prayer can be many things to many people, to include a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.

He then went on to say that Lisa Miller, professor of psychology at Columbia University, explains how humans are hard-wired for spirituality, but we’ve lost the connection.

According to Miller, faith-based traditions once connected most of us to something larger than ourselves, and without that, we’ve entered a self-centered age of widespread depression, addiction, and suicide.

Smith quoted Miller as saying: “If we are religious, whether we’re Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, or Christian, we all have the same neuro docking station, if you will, for our awakened brain to see “What is life showing me now? Where is my compass pointing me?” And even more importantly, “How do I engage and find deeper, more true direction in my life?” And we are hardwired to be able to do that. We can engage our awakened brain, our capacity to see into a deeper presence in life. And this is true whether we’re religious or not religious.”

He said every human being is born a spiritual being and we build on that by how we pray and meditate and the values we keep.

Smith went on to talk about how prayer provides a personal connection more protective against addiction, depression, and suicide than anything in the clinical sciences.

He said that according to Harold Koenig, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University, prayer has been shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, and prayer is linked to enhanced feelings of hope and optimism.

He quoted Koenig as saying: “The act of praying fosters a sense of connection to a higher power or a sense of purpose.”

Smith ended by showing us how to pray. He said you can start by building a sense of connection to a higher power. Then we acknowledge that someone out there cares about us, that we are not alone, followed by words that enhance feelings of hope and optimism, pointing beyond our self-centeredness and into the greater good.

Breakfast was provided for attendees and the 1st Armored Division Band provided music during the event.