Too often our problem with prayer is that we are not responding to God’s invitation to love and are searching for God in the clouds, not realizing that he is already here, waiting for us. God reassures us that he is here and waiting for our response through the prophet Jeremiah,
“And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
In reality, the phone analogy goes the other way. When we go to pray, it is like picking-up a phone that has been ringing all day long. God has been calling us, ready to start a friendship with us in prayer and is already there on the other side of the phone.
For more on friendship with God, read God Wants Our Friendship by William A. Barry, SJ.