Imagine a person has a special guest coming to their house. He tells his family to prepare for the visit. They clean the house, cook all of the best foods, use the special china dishes, and the whole family knows that they are to behave the best they can. The day of the visit arrives and the man of the house is preoccupied with something else. He does not come home to greet this all important guest. The mussar seforim (discipline books) say that this is like a person that comes to daven but does not have kavannah (intent). A person needs to concentrate on the words they are saying or else we are not praying properly to Hashem.
Rabbi Yaakov Seltzer [email protected]