Private prayer is possible without privacy. When Jesus speaks about going into your closet to pray in the Sermon on the Mount, he is talking about where to place your heart rather than your knees. However, being creatures who are affected by our surroundings for most of us to get any praying done, we are going to need privacy. For many of us this doesn't come easily and is another reason, I would guess, why so little praying gets done.
Even if you don't live in a family setting where one member of the household or another is likely to be barging in or making a distracting noise elsewhere for much the day, there are plenty of other factors that are likely to intrude on your privacy. Between the insistent door bell and telephone (often more than one these days) and the theoretically more easily ignored computer, TV and radio, the number of likely invaders of privacy is quite large.
So what can we do? The smallest room in the house is often conducive to privacy but seldom to worship. Leaving the house can be effective, once you learn to pray with your eyes open and your mouth half shut. It is not likely to work, however, if you are going to bump into chatty dog walkers or others who are unlikely to take in the fact that you are actually deep in prayer.
Yet again we are forced back into seeing the value of the early morning hour or the late evening one, when interruptions are likely to be at a minimum. As with the time factor we need to work out a plan and then a Plan B and keep working at it as best we can.
As with the time issue, it is worth remembering that as the eldest of a large family with limited space, Jesus struggled with the same issues as we do. We know that on at least one occassion he arose very early indeed and got himself to a place where he was not likely to be found - although he was eventually tracked down by Peter. He is not only ur Saviour but our example too.
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