Category: Prayer

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Look, Poetry, Prayer, Surrender

Prayer Beyond Time

I have various stones and shells near my prayer chair. I often am drawn to them as I enter prayer. One shell is a called a shark eye or moon shell or various other names. Most common seems to be shark eye.

I was looking at the sections delineated on this shell by the ridges and colors. One morning that led me to wonder if all the shells go in the same clockwise direction?

“Over 90% of the world’s spiraled shells are “right-handed.” They do this to ensure successful mating.” https://usefulbs.com/blog/why-do-most-seashells-spiral-in-the-same-clockwise-direction

Well there you have it. The shells have a direction. My prayer time can provide a direction that makes time not reverse as much as stop. A prayer can be outside of time as we know it.

I often use the image of the nautilus shell when I am trying to center down into the silence of God’s heart. You might remember the glass artwork I purchased.

For me I focus upon each section of the shell individually. Beginning at the outermost edge, I am aware and surrounded by all the noises, fragrances, sensations of the world around me…. all the distractions provided to me. As I choose to move to the next section, my surroundings grow smaller, fewer things to draw me from God. As each section (where the nautilus used to live) grows smaller, I try to draw closer to the Lord. Reaching for more of the essence that gives me life. Just as a monk throws a hood over his head I want to close out the world and be with my God.

The cowl (sometimes known as a capuche, especially for friars) is the hood worn by the Carmelite monks. The monk wears a monastic cowl that hangs over his upper back and is used to cover his head during the winter months. Although the cowl serves a practical purpose in keeping the monk’s shaven head warm, the cowl is more importantly a sign of mourning. The word “monk” is derived from Greek words meaning “one who mourns in solitude.” So what does a monk mourn? The Carmelite monks mourn for their own sins and the sins of others, begging for God’s mercy and justice. The cowl is a reminder of Christ’s Dolorous Passion on Calvary for sinners, a death that He would have endured had there been but one poor sinner.

The Holy Rule exhorts the Carmelite to “place the helmet of salvation on [his] head,” and this is what the Carmelite does every time he covers his head with the cowl. His head being covered in the brown wool and his face hidden unless you look directly at him, the monastic cowl also serves to hide the monk so that God alone might know his countenance. https://www.carmelitemonks.org/HolyHabit.php

When I emerge from the meditative prayer I bring with me a renewed sense of God’s presence even amidst the myriad distractions of the world.

I tried once to sum it up in a poem.

Inside Out © 1988 		Molly Lin Dutina		


I want to live from the inside out,
always within the center-down silence.
Having to struggle to get back 
is not the direction I choose.

Teach me, Lord, and help me 
know how to grow 
from the peaceful
sanctuary within.

Show me please where 
to refresh our love.
Give me attitudes that will unravel me
from the sin which so easily entangles.

Make me one with You, Lord,
so I will know 
how to be close 
to all that is around me.

Help me, Father,
and be glorified in my life.

Whatever way you choose to pray and draw close to God, I hope it is with a sincere heart giving plenty of time for God to speak and for you to listen for that still, small, holy voice.

Next time you get to visit the beach I hope you find gems to bring home!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Joy, Just do it, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Trust

Plentitude

Here is a great quote:

Gratitude places you in the energy field of plentitude. Glow with gratitude and see how awe and joy will make their home in you. Michael Bernard Beckwith

Br. David Steindl-Rast shares this compelling invitation: “Imagine a society in which mutual trust has the leverage that our present social order accords to fear. Imagine a society in which mutual caring has the leverage that our present social order accords to egotism. If we reach the critical mass of grateful people, a surprising reorientation can take place.”

Brother David has amazing insights and goals that boggle my mind. I want to live in the world he imagines. Mutual trust, mutual caring and a critical mass of grateful people! Yes! Let’s do that instead of all the other nonsense politicians and reporters spend time upon.

Mutual Trust

Mutual Caring

Gratefulness.

Give those a try.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Listen, Music, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Yield

Heard this for the first time

At our Maundy Thursday service I heard this for the first time. I WAS SO IMPRESSED, I had to worship with it on repeat. Regardless of what you think about the photos that accompany the music, just listen and be blessed. (The photos all seem to represent post crucifixion.)

“Stay with me, remain here with me. Watch and pray.”

Such simple statements. The disciples in the garden found it impossible to do. The Lord prayed and pleaded with the Father. They kept falling asleep. Can we stay awake?

This was perhaps the most meaningful end of Lent I have ever had. I think this music made a huge contribution to that experience.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” 39 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.” 40 Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.” Matthew 26:36-46 NRSVUE

In the book I used during Lent entitled Lent with The Desert Fathers, a prayer written by St. John Chrysostom was quoted. One portion reads:

“Let no one lament persistent failings, for forgiveness has risen form the grave.” “

Isn’t that amazing? Even the disciples who kept falling asleep thought he Lord asked them to watch and pray, even they were forgiven. So are we.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Joy, Listen, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Worship, Yield

The Same Yet Utterly Different

This is from a meditation sent by Practicing the Way during Holy Week.

“It’s still shocking: Jesus passed through death and, as you read these words, inhabits a body that ate Galilean fish and bears puncture marks from the cross, and yet is utterly different — a “walking, talking piece of new creation,” in the words of BibleProject’s Tim Mackie.

Have you contemplated this idea? Jesus, right now and right there with you, too! Our wonderful Jesus, passed from death into life and per the promise of the Father into us to live and dwell and direct our steps.

Oh such glory to God!

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” John 14:16-21 NRSVUE

The same, “yet utterly different.”

It is said He walked on earth fifty days before the ascension. As He lives and moves within us I propose that He is still walking the earth. Ponder that. Pray with that idea. Thank the Almighty for this amazing work.

Oh. Brings me to stillness and quiet within. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. Let all the earth declare His mighty works of glory.

 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. Romans 8:11 NRSVUE

Surrender to the Holy Spirit. Let Christ live and move through you. Wait before the Lord in every endeavor. Trust God to work through you as you walk in obedience to the Almighty. Be amazed at the Indwelling Christ. And give thanks.

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Joy, Just do it, Look, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Thanks

Maya Angelou

This was noted on the website by Monasteries of the Heart which features Joan Chittister and the work of the Benedictine Sisters in her community.

April 4: “If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you will look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully,” wrote Maya Angelou, who was born on this date in 1928. Angelou was a prolific author, poet, and journalist, as well as a Civil Rights activist.

Such wisdom from Maya. I have enjoyed reading some of her work. Such a life and what amazing telling of that life. The above is an challenging quote!

Look back forgivingly.
Look forward prayerfully.
Wisest course is to be present in the present GRATEFULLY.

Maybe it is because I am aging. Perhaps from walking closely with my neighbors who are dying? The gratitude in my heart seems to grow daily. Even when I am caught up in my own physical pain, I am able to be more grateful than in the past. I often recite my prayer below.

I have determined that this day, 
each time I am drawn up short by pain, 
I will praise You 
for I love You better than life - 
even better than quality of life.

I hope you can turn this time of year into a season full of forgiveness, prayer and gratitude. I believe we could all benefit from that effort!

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Listen, Look, Praise, Prayer, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Why Meditate on Scripture?

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/biblical-meditation/ has a terrific article well worth your time to read. Here is part of it: Meditating on the Scriptures is vital practice for maturing in the Christian life. As one anonymous writer said, “The Bible is not meant merely to inform but to transform.” Throughout history, godly leaders have commended the transforming effects of meditation. Consider this beautiful description by Thomas Brooks, a seventeenth-century church leader:

Remember that it is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most but he that meditates most that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.

I used to tell some fellow Bible students that I was not impressed if they could recite all the books of the Bible, even if they could recite those books in backwards order. To me the best accomplishment was if one could LIVE a single verse. I cannot attempt to come close to living a verse if I am unaware of the heart of God towards me. I get closer by trying to understand Hesed, loving kindness, mercy, grace and compassion. All of that for each of us. Knowing I can not do anything to make God love me more. Knowing God will never choose to love me less, motivates me to want to become more like Jesus. I have gained this knowledge from reading the Word of God, sitting with those concepts over decades, trusting to believe this even about myself.

Have you tried meditation? The practice has gotten a bad name from Christians who are motivated by fear. Understand that this is sometime that God has called us to throughout the Bible. Do your own study on the concept. Practice it a few times. Then try it a few more times. Be still and listen for the voice of the Lord to your heart and soul. I think you might find this a way to stir your soul into a deeper walk.

For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1: 6-7 NRSVUE

The love and care God has extended to me has changed me as a person.

35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
    and your right hand supported me,
    and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
    and my feet did not slip. Psalm 18:35-36 ESV

What has your meditation on the Word of God done for you? Have you learned more about the character of God? Have you allowed the Spirit of God to make changes in you? What might the future hold if you made it your practice to meditate upon the Word and upon the character of the Trinity? Are you willing to give it a try?

Read and then spend sixty seconds of quiet in the Presence of the Living God. Then two minutes. Then five. Move along to ten as you are able. It truly is a practice. Not something we accomplish and then stop.

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Illness and Health, medical treatment, Music, Obedience, Prayer, Rest, Surrender, Yield

Strength

Walking with my neighbors who are so ill has brought me to a new place of asking the Lord for strength. On Monday she and I sat through 2 hours of appointments with 3 different medical and financial persons in the Oncology office. She has decided she will forego treatment. Her pancreatic cancer is Stage 3. Stage 4 is when it moves to any other organ. With treatment there is only a small percentage of a chance to prolong her life. The pain of her death will be brutal, but the treatment would be brutal also. She will turn 83 in a few months. Now she is praying for courage to tell her husband who is still hospitalized and desperately ill. She said when she saw him over the weekend his legs were like tree trunks. She did not know skin could stretch so far. She has watched his treatment and declared she does not want to become like him. By the time you read this she will likely have told him.

It was difficult to sit with her through those appointments and watch her make her decision. I was exhausted last evening. This morning I read several things about strength and finding strength. I am praying that as you read this writing you will be strengthened in your life.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 NRSVUE

“Grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit.” Yes, please Lord God my Father.

Help me truly be rooted and grounded in love. Help that love to overflow to all those around me who are in need.

“According to the riches of Your glory”, grant this I pray. Help me abide in the love of Christ.

Are you weary today? Perhaps soaking in the above Scriptures and this song will help to sustain you.

I first heard this song at a retreat. In times like this it comes back to me.

On February 4 and March 23 the selections from Amy Carmichael in Edges of His Ways were both about strength. This morning the selection from Just One Thing by Rick Hanson, phd was entitled Find Strength. He wrote:

Strength comes in many forms, including endurance, losing on the little things in order to win on the big ones, and restraint. Inner strength is not all or nothing. You can build it, just like muscle. Appreciate how your strength empowers your caring, protectiveness, and love. Tell yourself that you are strong. That you can endure, persist, cope, and prevail. That you are strong enough to hold your experience in awareness without being over whelmed. That the winds of life can blow, and blow hard, but you are a deeply rooted tree, and winds just make you even stronger. And when they are done blowing, there you still stand. Offering shade and shelter, flowers and fruit. Strong and lasting.

I will with God’s help.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:1-3 NRSVUE

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint
    and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NRSVUE

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Faith, Joy, Look, Memories, Prayer, Traveling, Trust

Forward Day by Day

This appeared in Forward Day by Day devotional. We sent it to our friends in New Mexico. They took us to this church to see the wonder of the staircase. None of us took photos that day as the postcards were spectacular. The photos here are from online.

THURSDAY, March 19      SAINT JOSEPH

Luke 2:48b. Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.

There is a legend that Saint Joseph built a staircase here in New Mexico. In Santa Fe, the Sisters of Loretto built their chapel with the blessing of Archbishop Lamy. When it was nearing completion, they realized there was no way to access the choir loft. According to the story, the sisters prayed to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, and a stranger appeared. Working only with simple hand tools, this man built a spiral staircase with incredible technical precision and beauty. Carpenters to this day regard the staircase with awe. The man reportedly vanished when the stairway was finished, never accepting his pay.

Did Saint Joseph build the staircase? Many have debated, but as in the case of Joseph’s appearance in the gospels, the details are few. The question of faith also plays a role in the telling of the story. Rather than saying “Saint Joseph built it,” the story relies on the connection between the prayer and the mystery carpenter who arrived. It isn’t certainty but rather faith that has us reach out to God in our need and see God’s action in response.

MOVING FORWARD: Where could you use less certainty and more faith?

“a carpenter appeared with only a hammer and carpenter’s square. He built what is now known as the Miraculous Staircase with simple tools, wooden pegs and a rare wood that is not native to the American Southwest.” https://www.lorettochapel.com/our-story

Isn’t it just lovely?!? I always remember that Jesus was a carpenter, too!

Posted on in Art, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust

Grip not Gripe

I frequently think of a quote about the grip of God upon me. Then I do not remember where I read it, saw it, foudn it ….grr. Well, I came across it again last week. I suppose I need to make a poster or 8 x 10 of it and just put it on my wall!

Amy Carmichael wrote in The Edges of His Ways, March 15,

She says Rotherham translates Ephesians 1:19 According to the energy of the grasp of His might. She goes on to write, “It is not my grip of Christ, but Christ’s grip of me: said an old Scotswoman long ago. This is a great word for anyone who feels futile, but it is also a great word for us all. And I think of Paul so conscious of the greatness of his power (power whose lightest touch could have snapped his chains) that he could describe that power in heaped-up words of wonder. Yet he was so utterly content in his prison – so unoffended – that his Lord could use him to write deathless letters like this. What a God and what a servant! And He, Who made him what he was, is our God, even ours.”

That just makes me sit and want to read it over and over until I am saturated with the truth from it. You can read her book at this site https://archive.org/details/edgesofhiswaysse0000carm/page/38/mode/2up. It is also available at Olive Tree Bible Study https://www.olivetree.com/store/product/16733?internal_source=store_search&internal_source_id=product_list

I wish I had known the old Scotswoman, don’t you? Thank goodness her understanding of our Lord is recorded.

I want to be as content as Paul, whatever my condition in life.

 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13 NIV

Content – not prone to gripe. Gripe is complain with grumbling. Yuck. Is that me?

We have a neighbor couple who are both desperately ill and there is no cure for either of them. Walking with them reminds me of when Bob almost died in 2018. And it also reminds me that even though I have chronic pain and things that plague my health, I am okay. I am not dying. As Rick Hanson, phd teaches, “I am okay right now. ” Never have Bob and I both been deathly ill at the same time. Our neighbor man is hospitalized and so worried about his wife who is losing strength and is only visiting every other day now. He does not like being away from her but he is still too sick to go home.

Could you be content in a similar situation? Could having interaction with these two remind you not to gripe? We too often feel entitled to gripe and complain. Yet we live in the richest nation on earth. Though the politics in our country has gone outside the bounds of decency we have previously encountered, we have many of our freedoms in tact. Can we practice contentment for one day? One full week? Perhaps a month? Could we follow Paul and learn so much about our God that there would be no room in our life and in our mouth for complaining and grumbling?

Perhaps you might want it give it a try? Lent continues until April 5. Maybe these would help you draw closer to God. Each time you hear yourself out loud or in your mind complaining and grumbling, draw close to God and be still. It could work wonders for your soul. We mostly resist any message about ourselves having sin and needing to be cleansed. However, that is true about each and every one of us. None of us has a pure and blameless heart.

Abba Arsenius said, “If we seek God, he will appear to us. If we grasp him, he will stay with us.”

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4: 7-10 NRSVUE

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Listen, Look, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual growth, Yield

Everyone

Today on the Calm app they quoted H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.

I often tell people, “Remember we are all broken. Some just hide it better than others.”

We are not so unalike. I was recently asked to read my poem Called Forth from the Cave to a group. The stanza “We’ve got to touch, we’re not so unalike,” keeps ringing through my soul.

I first learned of Ubuntu through the book about Joy from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dali Lama.

“Ubuntu is a deeply rooted African philosophy that embodies the interconnectedness of humanity. Originating from Southern Africa, the term comes from the Bantu languages, often expressed as “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”—meaning “a person is a person through other people.” This guiding principle emphasizes community over individuality, recognizing that our identities and actions are shaped by our relationships and interactions.”

We are interconnected whether we recognize it or not. We are all human beings. I had a license plate frame made that reads, “We are humankind. Be both, human and kind.” As wars rage on and unrest grips our country as well as so many places around the world it is more important now than ever before to remember our human link to others. In high school speech class the instructor reminded us to look at our audience as we spoke and remember they put on their underwear the same way we do, one leg at a time.

I challenge you today to remember the above truths. We need each other. We each need kindness. There are many things we can do to practice kindness with one another, even total strangers. Remember, if you see someone without a smile today, give them one of yours!