Prayer --“The urgent crowds out the important.”

Our Unbinding Your Heart reading this week (Chapter 2) is related to prayer--too often an intimidating subject.  The reality is that I believe our life should be a prayer.  Much of what I have read and studied (and practiced, I hope) throughout my life leads me to see that prayer is as much about living and relating as it is saying or doing the ‘right’ thing.  

There is a great quote that I don’t know where I got it from but it says:

“The urgent crowds out the important.”

Reflecting on our life, our relationships (with others and God), and our actions is as much prayer as anything but too often we let the busy-ness of life crowd out the time we need for free and open space to listen.  Martin Luther says this about prayer: “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours [of the day] in prayer.” I imagine that runs a bit counter to the way we think of approaching prayer. Although, I don't live by his rule, I understand the point of when we focus and center ourselves, everything else can go that much smoother.

There is a great series of small books are about Jacob the Baker, who is a baker but really a sage in a small village.  In one story some asks him a question:  “How can we have more: ‘The only way I can take a breath is by releasing my breath.  In order to be more, I must be willing to be less.’”-- Jacob the Baker (from the book “Jacob the Baker by Noah ben Shea)  Prayer is about ‘being willing to be less’—to open ourselves; to listen by providing space; to realize that where you are…there is God also.  There are a myriad of ways to approach and talk about prayer: emptying, centering, reflecting, etc. plus, you can talk about prayer as caring for another, helping another in need, sweating and laboring on behalf of others, etc.  For you see, prayer is active—not passive.  Prayer is something you must define in your own life.

In the next several weeks, I’ll be sharing some ‘tools’ that I’ve used through the years: stories, prayers, ideas, books (at the end of each post), and other ‘stuff’ that has been helpful or at least thought provoking on the journey.  Take what you can and release what you will but play with ways that become meaningful for you.

The following is a prayer that maybe you could adapt to your own setting, that is unless you plough and dig ditches a lot, then it will work as it! But the point is ‘fill in the blank’ for you daily work or schedule:

Pray at all Times

The soul that is not nourished by prayer

Is like a tree without soil.

Pray in the woods,

Pray when you plough,

Pray in the fields,

Pray when you dig ditches,

Pray in silence

So that no one can see you.

Amen.

                -Russian Orthodox prayer

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The following is just some thoughts from a series of books put out by Abbey Press—just some thoughts:

PRAYER THERAPY

by Keith McClellan, O.S.B. {from Elf Books by Abbey Press}

Prayer begins in a restless heart.  Listen to its stirring

Prayer is a yearning for one's true home.  Follow its lead.

Prayer is like a garden.  Tend it and it will be fruitful.

Don't worry about words or formulas.  Prayer is a listening.

Prayer has many methods.  Do it your own way.

Pray always, but schedule special times too.  The spirit, like the body, needs formal exercise.

Let your prayer be short.  Love needs few words.

Pray where you are.  God is everywhere.

If you need something, pray for it.  God desires your good.

If you want something, ask yourself, "Do I want what God wants?"  God wants your true good.

Remember:  your work and struggles are not unholy.  Pray and God will come to you just as you are.

 When your praying becomes dry and routine, keep at it.  Parched earth welcomes the rain.

Bring your anger to prayer.  Hot metal can be molded.

When God seems far away, keep praying.  Light can be blinding.

When you sin and continue to fail, pray anyway.  God keeps on loving you.

Pray when you're worried.  Prayer puts everything in perspective.

If, for any reason, you cannot pray, relax.  The desire to pray is already a prayer.

When prayer invites you to take risks, have courage.  God will uphold you.

When you feel sad or sorry, weep.  Tears are a prayer of the heart.

If you don't like somebody, pray for them.  Prayer reveals the hidden God.

When you receive bad news, take heart.  Praying uncovers the spark in the cinders.

When sickness, age, pain, or worry steals your concentration, relax.  God is an understanding friend.

If you begin to feel advanced in the ways of prayer, think again.  God's life runs deeper than your feelings or experiences.

If prayer makes you passive and indifferent, it isn't prayer.  True prayer will bear fruit in care and service.

Use quiet times for prayer.  Silence draws you to the Infinite.

Use noisy times for prayer.  Sound is the clamor of creation seeking God.

Pray when you feel lonely.  Prayer puts you in the company of angels.

When life is cruel and unjust, keep praying.  God is the victim, not the cause.

Touch the joys and troubles of your friends and neighbors.  Shared life is a shared prayer.

When your heart is bursting with thanks, just be.  God's spirit is praying within you.

When you are overawed before Mystery, just be.  God's spirit is praying within you.

Embrace the whole world in your prayer.  Peace depends on it.

Pray in your resting.  Sleep is the prayer of a creature secure in God's love.

Pray in your rising.  Each dawn draws you closer to the Light.

To pray is to breathe.  Do it deeply and you will be filled with life.

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Finally here are some books that might be of interest or maybe even of use!

 by Jane E. Vennard

Praying with Body and Soul: A Way to Intimacy with God

                 

books by Richard Foster

                Celebration of Discipline

                Simplicity (plus any by him)

Books [fiction/parables] by Noah ben Shea:  Jacob the Baker; Jacob's Journey; Jacob's Ladder