Facetime #3

"The blessing" or "giving thanks", even to those who don't pray much at all, is one form of prayer widely practiced. At home it is usually our girls that pray and give thanks. There have been times when they try to out do one another and other times when they clam up asking my husband or myself to pray. My girls usually include many details of the day in their thanks in addition to thanksgiving for the food and "the hands that preapred it". I'm not sure when those words began to be added, but the make a regular appearance.

I guess like with any other time we pray or approach God on a regular basis, in the same time and place, we can lose the sense of awe at that moment and make it a sing songy, meaningless exercise. I know when I recognize this in myself I try to stop and get perspective at just what I am doing and how God wants to hear the depths of our heart, the peaks, the valleys, the eternal gratitude for His provision.

The church I serve is frequently visited by homeless and hungry people, mostly men. In the last months we have been giving out food regularly. This has grown to include one member who has felt called to pull out the grill every Sunday and feed the passersby on the busy road in front of our church. Those who offer money don't understand why we won't take it. That is not what it is about. It is about offering a gift of grace in the form of food, and grace is a free, unmerited gift! Those who can't offer anything but a smile and some conversation are incredibly grateful. They know what it is like to be hungry and therefore appreciate and give thanks for the food.

How many of us can honestly say we have ever really been hungry? I mean the kind of hungry when you don't know when or if you are going to eat again. I mean the kind of hungry when you can't choose, there are no choices, you will take whatever you can get.
So many of us are blessed and we don't even realize it. We know we will eat or can choose to eat or not eat 3+ meals a day. Not only that but we can choose what we eat. We can afford to throw tons of food away without blinking.

I had a conversation Sunday with some folks about our near inability to fully comprehend the depths of human suffering unless we have suffered in some way shape or form in our lives. Perhaps this is the gift of suffering for ourselves, that we are moved to act when next we see another suffering.

Give thanks for God's blessings, whether they are edible ones or the family kind that are sitting around the table.

Mirrors

This week was unusual. We had heavy snow last Sunday night and freezing temperatures all week. As of now, Saturday night, a full 6 days later, there is still snow on the ground. The roads were so icy, school was out for the week, and we were unable to leave the house for 4 days. I had to be still. This is unusual for me.

I had more time than usual to reflect, to list, to pray, to ponder, to SLEEP! I made some plans, set some goals, fleshed out some resolutions. BAM, another up close and personal look at my flaws, scars, and all those things I need to work on.

Watching my own two girls, 7 and 12, I become more and more keenly aware of the mirrors they are of me, my own issues and inadequacies, my own quirkiness, humor, likes and dislikes. Of course I know this, but it was so much more evident in close quarters this week.

I have found the Scriptures to be much the same. Like a mirror, I read them and the more time I spend in the I see how my life has distorted God's intentions. I see how far I have fallen short. I also see the goodness God sees, my own uniqueness and God's redeeming love in it all.

One of my girls is nearly my clone in looks, but they both, I think, have the best parts of me in them. I believe Our Father in heaven sees His children and knows the same. He created us and proclaimed it good, and yet our brokenness has distorted the image we were meant to reflect.

I figure my children will have enough brokenness of their own living in the world we do. I pray my own brokenness will be eclipsed by God's grace and love. That God's grace and love will be the legacy I leave above all else.

"Face Time" #2

This is where I have done the most fervent praying in my life. It is where you will find me most every morning of the week in the quiet hours before anyone is up, even the sun. I could have taken a picture of myself here but the point is that God is present. Though unseen and sometimes not felt, God is present right there on the couch with me.

This is the space where I first heard God call me to full time ministry. This is the place where I have read more of the Bible, more times than I can count. This is the place where I have poured out my heart to God on behalf of His Church, my family, my own brokenness. This is hallowed ground. This is where prayer and "face time" with God really began to form me in ways that I continue to realize.

Many years ago I read two books on prayer that significantly impacted me, "Let Prayer Change Your Life" by Becky Tirabassi and "What Happens When Women Pray" by Evelyn Christenson. These two books called me to a deeper life of prayer and communion with God. They called me to making prayer a priority. They brought me to revelation that I made time for many things in my life but that God got the leftovers if anything at all. God and prayer were the first negotiable things on my daily schedule, kind of like exercise....busy? well, just clear away that quiet time for prayer and study and meditating, and voila...all kinds of time. God and the spiritual life was something I talked about but did not LIVE in.

Another wonderful book on prayer is Richard Foster's "Prayer" and I have heard, though have not read, "Too Busy Not to Pray" by Bill Hybels is good as well.
One of the biggest tools in my prayer life is my journal. I am just as flaky as the next person. When I try to sit still and be quiet my mind inevitably wanders down many a rabbit trail. A have kept many journals of prayer, reflection on scripture, ideas and visions. Writing things down helps me to focus and cover all of the bases. Journals have helped me to record not only the names and requests of those I am praying for, it has enabled me to see God working, often times far ahead of where I am.

In prayer and communion with God in these quiet times and places I find rest and peace.

This was not an easy discipline to establish with two small children when I began years ago. I got interrupted, repeatedly, I got intruded upon with early risers, still sometimes I have to shoo them away, telling them I was talking to God and that we had an appointment that I wanted to keep.

While prayer can take place any time and any where, I pray you will create a special time in your day and a special place to commune with your God.

"Face Time" #1

The sun has set on the first day of the new year and tomorrow begins the first week of the new year. What resolutions have you made? Like many of you I make some of the same ones every year. I do well on some and others seem to be unreachable dreams. One thing I have resolved to do more of this year is pray. That's what's up with the picture. Prayer for me is time to talk and listen to the creator of the universe. It is time to commune with God. Some think that prayer should only be done in a certain place or in a particular posture or in particularly beautiful words. What I have come to understand is that God is present wherever we find ourselves, in whatever posture we take, and in however we might say the words of our heart. Just pray. What I have discovered about myself in prayer over these past years has been enlightening. Prayer is not always about what we pray but just the act of doing it to begin with. Prayer changes a person. There is a very good reason to pray for those who persecute you and I would venture to say it has far more to do with the person praying than the person being prayed for (Matthew 5:44).


And so, for the next year, one time a week, I will post a picture of a different place I am spending some face time with God. I would love to hear about the places you pray and how prayer is changing you and your life with God.

May you know God's blessings in this new year!
In the words of Jesus, "Always pray and never give up!"