Many think her greatest writing is within some of the novels she has written and then allowed to be made into movies. I tend to think her self-revelatory book When the Heart Waits is her best EVER. Reviewing a few pages while writing a recent blog entry pulled me in again to her masterful discussion of how she stumbled upon the power of prayer in unmoving silence.

“Why couldn’t I pray? Why? I stood by the doors, watching the fog, everything in me hushed and unmoving. All at once I caught my reflection in the glass. I saw my posture silhouetted against the darkness. And it came to me in one of those grace-ful moments – I was seeing myself at prayer. I was praying. My still heart, my silence, the very posture of waiting against a backdrop of darkness was my prayer.”

She goes on to explain that she saw into the interior posture of prayer. “Such interior postures are themselves the prayers that transform, heal and yield the answers in our waiting.”

If you have followed my journey you perhaps remember me writing about Richard Rohr relating a lesson he was given on prayer from Fr. William McNamara. “Just look.” Not saying or doing anything, just look and let God open your heart and mind and soul. “Just look.” That is one powerful exercise. Try this for yourself. Practice it on random Wednesdays or when you take a walk. Just invite God to lead you. He will show up if we cut off the faucet of verbage.

Remember the old childhood song about stop, look and listen? We could use more of that in our Christian lives! Stop all the usual chatter in your brain. Look around you for evidence of God. Listen for the still small voice of the Spirit.