Tomorrow I'm to give a 3 minute talk on prayer to kick off our stewardship campaign for 2020. So, I've been thinking about prayer, its many forms, how it can lead to meditation, how it changes as we mature. etc.
My first prayer was a scary one, which may have been its point: Now I lay me down to sleep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. I think it's a bit of child abuse to insist on her/him saying that every night at bedtime.
The Santa Claus/God as errand boy phase of prayer is thankfully past - God give me (the doll, the car, the stuff).... send me. (goodies).. let me pass the test... etc.
Nowadays my prayers are more practicing the Presence, more silent communion, with the requests being for God to reveal Itself to me, to guide me, to help me remember we are One and therefore to walk my life that way, to fulfill my purpose for being here.
I think spiritual awakening involves growth in prayer life until all of life is an expression of prayer.
Oh Divine More, I come open and willing to know You more fully and serve You more consistently. Wash away all in me that is unlike how You made me to be. I feel Your Presence in all parts of my life, in Your whispers, in the beauty of this world, in the quiet of the morning, in the words of those You have inspired -- when I stop to realize it, You truly are everywhere. I cherish Your Presence. I am thankful for You, dear One.
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