Multitasking. Busyness. Noise. All modern hassles that I often simply accept, don’t fight, and let rule my life. Part of my survival mechanism, I guess.But lately I have noticing my reading, listening and even prayer is lacking depth – I am skimming in all areas of my life.Skimming makes me look like I have it all together and am on top of things, yet something is missing. I am not taking the time to develop deep roots – roots that will nourish me through dry periods and hold me steady during the storms of life.Pete Scazzero wrote, “Skimming is the way many of us cope with multiple demands, constant pressure, and overloaded schedules. We cover a lot of ground superficially without being fully engaged.”I can blame the Internet. I read this article the other day by Nicolas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, who believes the internet is changing the way we read and process information. It is a medium based on interruption – one in which we read a … [Read more...]
How do you Celebrate the Firsts in your Life?
Watching a grandchild provides endless life lessons. I realized this last Saturday when I grabbed the camera to capture Kyla’s first boat ride on Hamilton Lake. (By the way she doesn’t look too happy in these photos and really wanted a nap instead of a strange bumpy trip on water. She did enjoy the second boat ride later in the day with giggles and smiles.) How we love to celebrate a child’s firsts in life! Think of them all - the first tooth, the first haircut, the first walk, the first day of school. We clap our hands, take lots of photos and maybe have a party. We inscribe the event into our memory for safekeeping and honor the moment.Why have we as adults forgotten to honor firsts in our lives? I don’t like to think that we have no more firsts after we reach a certain age. I think I quit noticing and don’t take the time to recognizing new onsets in my life.I believe in life long learning – so the first time you read a new word, pondered a new idea, or learn a new skill should be … [Read more...]
Living in the Future or in the Present
I live in the future. I am a planner, organizer, to- doer of the highest regard.This realization hit me once again this past weekend. Walking into Barnes and Noble, just to look around, I saw them –2011 calendars Like an eagle diving to snatch its prey, I raced over to the display. So many bright colors and varying formats before me. I felt like a child drooling over all the possibilities at Toys R Us or an addict finding just the right fix. I even held in my hand one calendar dated 2011 and 2012 – two year of planning. I had to buy one. In fact, I bought two.My husband just shook his head at me. “There is still half of 2010 left you know.”He is right. I think I can somehow control the future when I have dates and notations for boundaries. How sad to miss the present gifts surrounding us being too busy looking ahead.I have been reflecting about my reaction of joy and excitement over next year’s calendar. At first I chastised myself for being so future oriented and not embracing … [Read more...]
Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Prayer of Relinquishment
How do you pray? Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath. So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms. Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.Reading Catherine Marshall when I was younger was the first time I read about the Prayer of Relinquishment. The dictionary tells me that when I relinquish something, like a possession or a right, I give it up. I surrender it.Catherine Marshall wrote, “…God was trying to teach me something important about prayer. Gradually I saw that a demanding spirit, with self-will as its rudder, blocks prayer….God absolutely refuses to violate our free will; that therefore, unless self-will is voluntarily given up, even God cannot move to answer prayer.”Image of this prayer is the garden of Gethsemane … [Read more...]
Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Intercessory Prayer
How do you pray? Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath. So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms. Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.Praying for others is both an honor and responsibility many Christian take seriously. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about this type of prayer, “Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day.”Intercession on behalf of a fellow human being is a way of loving the other.“Prayers of intercession specifically ask God to intercede in the world. We ask in the midst of tragedies involving thousands of people or in times of struggle and disease in the life of an individual, family or community. We are asking for God's help. Sometimes we are … [Read more...]
Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Prayers of Adoration
Prayers of Adoration Let's explore different types of prayers beginning with prayers of adoration. How do you pray? Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath. So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms. Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him. At first glance you may think thankfulness and adoration are the same, but there is a difference. Adoration is the outpouring of love, worship, honor, and praise to God. Richard Foster writes, ”In one sense, adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims…In adoration we enter the rarefied air of selfless devotion. We ask for nothing but to cherish him. We seek … [Read more...]
Thankfulness to God – Lectio Divina
Therefore, my heart sings to you without ceasing; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalm 30:12I will give you thanks forever.Lord, the more I offer you my thanks and praise, the more I see the depth of Your blessings.Lord, the more I pay attention to Your gifts, the more words of thankfulness burst from my heart.Lord, the more I dig though the mud and muck of life, I find Your treasures and nuggets of love surrounding me.Lord, the more I try to express my gratitude to You with inadequate expressions, the more I fall before you with wordless tears.Lord, I will give you thanks forever. … [Read more...]
Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Thankfulness
How do you pray? Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath. So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms. Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.The more I pray with thankfulness, the more I realize the power in gratitude. I have read that love and gratitude are the two most powerful emotions for humans.“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister EckhartWe are taught from childhood to say thank you, but as I get older I have discovered I never can fully thank God enough for all the blessings from Him.Each night before sleep I pause and review the day: What am I most grateful for and what am I the least grateful for?To be honest when I first began this form of prayer, I expected … [Read more...]