First, we must acknowledge the coniferous family—pine, cedar, spruce, all the greens that held steady through the white of winter and remained firm and true, the darks of their greens expressing the depths of faithfulness. They are like meal prayers and Sunday liturgies and gratitude. The simplicity of their steady faithfulness helps in the hard, barren seasons.
Prayer Is
Prayer is crying out. Prayer is conversation. Prayer is dialogue. Prayer is encounter. Prayer is communion.
Topics:
Contemplative Practice
Prayer is Communion
There is an inherent, underlying unity that penetrates and connects everything. Nothing is separate. No one is outside the hold of the Hand of the Holy One. Nothing is separate, not even the most horrifying things. No one is outside, not even the ones who commit the most terrible acts. No event, no act, no matter how evil, is bigger or deeper than God. Nothing and no one overcomes the power of Love.
Topics:
Contemplative Practice
Prayer is the Sound of Life Singing
In the Northern hemisphere, especially in the spring, we are reminded of the sounds of life in movement, waking up from the slumber of winter. Winds blow, and the sound of leaves rustling stirs up the air. Ice melts, and the sound of water gurgling in creeks and groaning in lakes flows through the land. Newborn animals cry out for mama’s milk, which soothes their hungry bellies aching to nourish and grow. Even human babies in utero recognize the sounds of their mother’s voices both before and after birth and respond to its sounds.
Topics:
Contemplative Practice
The Ways of Prayer
Sometimes, prayer is a way of getting things. In petition, we ask God directly for things or events. In intercession, we pray on behalf of others, for things and events. In ritual, we perform acts, often hoping to attain a thing or a state of being. We do well to seek good things in this way of prayer!
Topics:
Contemplative Practice
In Prayer, Help Along the Way
I woke up still half-way in a dream. I had arrived in a place with a bag of certain selected belongings, and quickly, the dream revealed that there was a deeper, formative purpose that was going to be at work as I began a process of choosing, among my already selected items, which ones would need to be further whittled away. As I went through the process, others showed up to help. Some nudged me with a sense of pressure and urgency. Some guided me in selecting what to keep and what to let go of. Others rushed about on the fringes, not really noticing me, but holding a container of a sense of place. By the time I woke up fully, I was left with a sense of, “we are all helping each other along.”
Topics:
Contemplative Practice