The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on December 29, 2021 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
There are times when I am restless in my prayer. At times, a gnawing ache follows me from my prayer pillow right into daily life: I seek personal healing, I long for right relationships, I yearn for a better world. And when I return to my pillow again, the restlessness still waits for me there.
Sure, I have tasted morsels of glory. I have glimpsed insights into deep peace. I have known tremendous love.
Yet it seems that the more I know of these portions of Wholeness, the wider the gap of longing grows. Brokenness, limitation, emptiness all become so heavy that I collapse under the weight of angst. Partiality is too much to bear in the face of Wholeness. So, I cling to longing as the thread of prayer that binds the still-broken to the already-whole.
