Praying: to Santa Claus, or the Almighty?

I admit it, I fall into a bad habit sometimes:  prayer becoming a list of people I'm asking the Lord to heal, or situations that I think he needs to resolve, and other life issues that I believe only he has the power to change. "Father, please help ____" has become a repetitive phrase.  If we are to "pray
continually", 1 Thess 5:17, and "about everything" (Philip. 4:4-7) then surely we can pray about our needs. But are we supposed to bring every request about everything -- like parking spaces at the grocery store -- to the Creator of the universe? (One certainly might reason that since the Father sees all the sparrows, Luke 12:6, he certainly knows where the parking spaces are.)

But how do we pray? Casually, since we're praying all the time? Continually bringing a never-ending list of our wishes to God? That would reduce him to a divine butler, ready to jump at our requests, which due to our limited human understanding is often ill-timed and unwise. Or, worse, Santa Claus at the mall: a nice jolly man who listens politely to all our requests for toys, nods politely, pats us on the head and tells us to be good little boys and girls (and ignores our requests). Is that how it should be? I don't believe so.

The Lord of all creation is magnificent, holy, full of glory, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving, just to list a little of his greatness. Moses couldn't look on his face and live (Ex 33:20), and the risen Jesus Christ is also full of glory, as we see in John's vision in Rev. 1:12-17. The power and majesty of God is without adequate description! Yet Jesus taught his disciples in Luke 11 that the Father's concern for us is far greater than that of a physical father, and the "Lord's Prayer" begins with "Our Father" which is an intimate term. Is this a contradiction?

What if we see prayer as the intersection of the glory of God and his concern for us?

Being more aware of the awesome and magnificent power and majesty of God, we might begin our prayers with a time of honor, praise and devotion instead of just jumping in with our requests. The "Lord's Prayer" in Matthew begins by honoring God and submitting to his Kingdom rule, before asking for our daily needs and for protection. Psalm 8 is an example, only 9 verses long, that we could read before beginning prayer, to re-orient our minds to who God is before we get to what we are concerned about.

Yes, our Father wants to hear our concerns; but I believe our concerns and prayers will be more effective the more we focus on his glory first. Why not give it a try and see what changes?