Prayer

I've developed an unctuous little habit in my public praying that I really need to work on, because I know when I hear examples of it, it drives me crazy, so I'll assume others feel the same way. I find myself telling God what he did in the Bible, which in and of itself isn't bad, but I have a tendency to then tell God what he was trying to accomplish, which is probably not wise on my part. I think what I end up doing is confusing prayer with preaching, and why I need to stop that can be found in Matthew 6:7-8:

⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Note that I mentioned "public" prayer, such as when I pray to open a Bible class, meeting or something else like that. My private prayers are much simpler affairs, not because I'm lazy or give the matter short shrift, but because I do acknowledge that God knows what I'm talking about and doesn't need the full story. My prayers are more like Hemingway (in his manner of writing, where he stated that 90% of the meaning was beneath the surface, not for the drinking and shooting) than Tolstoy (seriously, 1440 pages for "War and Peace"? Did he have an editor?), and if I really need to let things out, I can go into detail, but I never confuse quantity (the amount of time I pray) with quality (the sincerity with which I do it). At least not knowingly.

As long as I'm on the subject,  what is prayer anyway other than a conversation with God? When you converse with other people, does the way you talk change? Do you speak in a different cadence, sigh at the end of every sentence and use phraseology that causes your audience to wonder if you've had a stroke? Why is it when we pray aloud we stop conversing and end up doing some kind of intoned chant that uses vocabulary beyond description? I try VERY HARD not to babble on like pagans because that's not how we talk. If we can have a conversation with our friends and be understood, we can have a conversation with God using the same exact words, same exact tone with the same exact expectation that our prayer will be answered. We don't get style points, and Jesus is simply reminding the disciples that, since he already knows what's up, keep it brief and to the point. Good advice for sermons as well.

When you break down prayer as a conversation with God, it becomes far less intimidating. It is not unusual for me to simply pray "Thy will be done" and leave it at that--after all, what's left to be said? 
Scott