Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, and this will also be the first time my husband and I "celebrate" the advent season. I've found that the past few years that Christmas has come and gone with me barely giving a nod of acknowledgment as to the "reason for the season". With all the shopping and family functions and eating to be done, I've been missing out on the spiritual depth and beauty of this time of year.
So, we've bought an advent candle holder (had to order it off the internet...all the ones in the local Christian books stores were...well, ugly). My husband has baked some fresh bread and bought a bottle of wine so we can celebrate communion (is that naughty?). And I'm going to try to focus in and not get myself so distracted with the mad rush of the holidays.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
the weight of prayer
I am not a prayer warrior.
I simply struggle too much with prayer. Lately, I feel like there are just so many prayer requests out there that I get bogged down just at the thought of them. The requests of the ladies at Bible study; the requests in the Sunday morning bulletin at church; the needs of my family, both immediate and extended; salvation for lost friends and coworkers; the list seems never ending. Not to mention confessing my own sins and praying for my own spiritual growth/needs.
Where do I start? How do I start?
I've gotten to where I feel like prayer weighs me down, not lifts me up.
And books on prayer only seem to add to the weight. How-to's, lists, acronyms to remember what to prayer and in what order. So much to do that there is no time to simply sit in His presence; to sit there and just rest in Him feels ineffective and unproductive...and selfish! I could be praying for so many people in the time I take to try to listen to Him. And when I do try to just sit and listen, all those request start pinging around in my mind, demanding my attention.
I like what Sister Wendy Beckett had to say about prayer: "There seems to be a universal certainty that there is some secret about prayer that can be taught. People feel sure that they would be prepared to go to a great deal of trouble and experience considerable difficulties if that was the way to uncover this mysterious "secret." But prayer is essentially simple." (From Sister Wendy on Prayer).
I want simple prayer. I need simple prayer. More than that, I need to remember that prayer is not about me...it's about communing with Him. It's about the sheer, amazing fact that I, an infinite, fallible human, can commune with a eternal, infallible God...and that He wants me to! That is the truly amazing part...not just fulfilling some perceived duty.
I simply struggle too much with prayer. Lately, I feel like there are just so many prayer requests out there that I get bogged down just at the thought of them. The requests of the ladies at Bible study; the requests in the Sunday morning bulletin at church; the needs of my family, both immediate and extended; salvation for lost friends and coworkers; the list seems never ending. Not to mention confessing my own sins and praying for my own spiritual growth/needs.
Where do I start? How do I start?
I've gotten to where I feel like prayer weighs me down, not lifts me up.
And books on prayer only seem to add to the weight. How-to's, lists, acronyms to remember what to prayer and in what order. So much to do that there is no time to simply sit in His presence; to sit there and just rest in Him feels ineffective and unproductive...and selfish! I could be praying for so many people in the time I take to try to listen to Him. And when I do try to just sit and listen, all those request start pinging around in my mind, demanding my attention.
I like what Sister Wendy Beckett had to say about prayer: "There seems to be a universal certainty that there is some secret about prayer that can be taught. People feel sure that they would be prepared to go to a great deal of trouble and experience considerable difficulties if that was the way to uncover this mysterious "secret." But prayer is essentially simple." (From Sister Wendy on Prayer).
I want simple prayer. I need simple prayer. More than that, I need to remember that prayer is not about me...it's about communing with Him. It's about the sheer, amazing fact that I, an infinite, fallible human, can commune with a eternal, infallible God...and that He wants me to! That is the truly amazing part...not just fulfilling some perceived duty.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
faith
"Faith is not burying our heads in the sand, or screwing ourselves up to believe what we know is not true, or even whistling in the dark to keep our spirits up. On the contrary, faith is a reasoning trust. There can be no believing without thinking." -- John R. W. Scott, from The Message of Romans
Came across this in my devotional reading tonight. Felt like I needed to share.
Came across this in my devotional reading tonight. Felt like I needed to share.
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