Contemplative prayer demands the letting go of all expectations, including the expectation for a “felt” sense of prayer as something “other” than our normal lived experience. Often, we will find our designated prayer time feeling quite ordinary, with no special insights, grand revelations, or “warm fuzzy” feelings. Don’t misunderstand: contemplative prayer is most certainly an experiential type of prayer, but our expectations for what we should experience and how we should experience it are misleading, and too often put God in a box – a flashy box perhaps, but one with little substance inside.
All of our most meaningful relationships are full of ordinary, “dull” moments of just living the ins and outs, ups and downs of life together without any particular fanfare. Realistically, such times make up the grey, concrete foundations upon which all the best relationships are built. The foundation of our Divine relationship is no different. The truth is that every moment of our lives is lived with, in, and through God, including those ordinary times that just are, with no awareness of anything particularly trying or triumphant. One of the beauties of contemplative practice is the gradually unfolding realization that God is no less present, active and alive in  the “ordinary” moments than in the “banner” moments.