There is a difference between beginners in prayer and those who are more advanced. It has to do with where we must focus our efforts.
St. John of the Cross is one of those great Catholic writers that most people know about but probably not many people read.
Developing your prayer life can feel like a project to be planned and completed. Consider a different sense of what is happening when we get serious about prayer. When you begin to make prayer a serious focus of your life, you begin to follow a story.