Dear God of the Day:
Although I run late once
again, trying to find the
balance of all my new year’s
goals and aims and deep wishes,
I pause enough
to read your word
and say to you,
“I look forward to seeing all
that you do today, this day,
Your day.”
Take this day and show Yourself
God.
Epiphany
A joyful Epiphany to you! On this day that we celebrate Christ’s revealing as Messiah King, I pray your heart allow Him to be manifest in an honest, reverent, and happy way. ‘O rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, “Rejoice!” ‘ (Philippians 4:4)
Full Circle
Last January 5, I wrote a poem reflecting on my prayer time. I had been about to mumble on to the Lord to remember me in the midst of my sister’s good life, but was stopped by the Spirit to simply give thanks. God said, “Be thankful. That is all you need. I will always remember you.” Today, I know I am remembered by God as my unspoken prayers are answered. Now as I read that same day in my devotional, the words rise from the page to create a new prayer in my heart. Instead of asking God to remember me, I am asking him to care for me as a shepherd. And I’m asking him to help me care for what he has put in my hands, a blessing to be remembered.
Daily Prayers
As I search for a modern life connected to an plus-ancient spirit, I find myself meekly desperate in the midst of various quotidian activities.
Here are some of the ambiguous and unambiguous prayers I find myself reciting in the car, washing dishes, alternating laundry, scrubbing sinks, and getting dressed:
Oh, God…
Help me to find the words.
What am I doing?
Let me keep my mouth shut at the appropriate times.
Calm my heart.
Keep him safe.
Please foster some passion in my heart and his.
Let there be love.
Keep me going, keep me faithful, keep me simple, keep me trusting.
Thank you for this coffee.
Clean my heart, too.
I feel so lost and yet inexplicably held.
In response, I most often hear a gentle voice saying, “I am here.”
A Latent Conversation: Praying on the Phone in Dunn Bro.
“I’ve been busier than a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest.” That was just the beginning of his conversation. You can only imagine how colorful the rest of it was–complete with generous amounts of: inherited that nasty OCD, my third wife, people praying, two psychologists seeing her, and the whole church lifting her up. –A phone conversation in the booth next to me at Dunn Brothers coffee house.
As abrasive as his speech was to his long-forgotten friend (re: “Sorry I haven’t called you back; I’ve been busier…”) and my strange ears, I couldn’t help but wonder when his prayer turned into conversation and when it might turn back. Because to me, prayer is simply very special talking.
Prayer is the process of moving spiritual longings from our spirit to our physical minds and tongues and back to the spirit world of God’s listening. So when we talk, it simply makes sense that we could very well be praying.
When we speak, where do our words come from? It is a matter to contemplate. Are they streaming from spirit or from mind? In the end, it doesn’t really matter as long as we are aware of both. This is because prayer is transient. It moves from spirit world to earthly world effortlessly and thus connects our parts into a whole person. But we must be aware and we must be able to place the words into the left out world.
If your words are coming only from your mind, learn to put them into your spirit. Check in and see if your spirit need be concerned. Ask your spirit to lay a supplication before God. Connect your mind to spirit. If your words are coming from your spirit, make sure they travel through your physical mouth and back into your spirit to rest. This releases the mind from circumstantial control, from a timid human path of healing into a more bold spiritual grace. Why? Because prayer is transient and it must be released in order to do its work.
I am beginning to believe prayer is faith in true completeness, in healthiness of mind, spirit, and soul. It is letting the spirit voice its concerns and weights while at the same time letting the mind know one’s depth of person and place. Prayer is what creates peace within the battling self.
So be attentive to your words and to your spirit. Allow both to say what they feel need to said and in this way, you will be praying continually, should that be a desire of yours indeed. And remember, even latent conversations, the ones you always wanted to have but never did, can today be voiced and prayed in sweet humility and renewed fervency. “In all things pray continually.” I Thessalonians 5:16
What Is Sustaining Us?
Love, work, prayer, and suffering will sustain us in the future as they have in the past. All who are here now, all who will come after us, will have no other tools than these with which to build.
–Sister Mollie Rogers of the Maryknoll Movement
Watch Night Service
“Watch Night Service”
This is a liturgical service for those seeking freedom. It is an adaptation of liturgy compiled by Shane Clairborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro in their book “Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.” Zondervan (c) 2010
adapted by Naphtalia in an effort to close the year with a fresh start in freedom.
Naphtalia 