What is a Healthy Prayer Life? As an RN I know health is more than the absence of disease. Seeking a healthy lifestyle requires an intentional daily choice to balance health habits in nutrition, exercise, sleep and attitude. Seeking a healthy prayer life is similar to health- choosing intentionally each day to balance a prayer life with a variety of holy habits. Good nutrition relies on more than one food group. A health prayer life tastes a variety of prayers. I used to only repeat prayers my mother taught me and send up millions of requests to God. The last few years I expanded my prayer experience with centering prayer, journaling, and prayers from the Bible and other Christians. My favorite Bible prayer is “I do believe, help my unbelief "(Mark 9:24) and I often just quietly repeat Thomas Aquinas’ simple prayer of “My Lord, My God.” Exercise is vital to good health including prayer life. I can’t just talk about prayer, I actually spend time talking and listening to God. … [Read more...]
Teach Me To Listen Prayer
Teach Me To Listen Prayer I am traveling with my daughter, Valerie, to Stratford Canada this week and seeing six plays. So in lieu of a regular post, here is one of my favorite prayers about teaching me to listen. May you have a blessed week. Teach me to listen, O God, To those nearest me, My family, my friends my co-workers, Help me to be aware that No matter what words I hear, The message is “Accept the person I am. Listen to me.” Teach me to listen, my caring God, To those far from me – The whisper of the hopeless, The plea of the forgotten, The cry of the anguished. Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, To myself. Help me to be less afraid To trust the voice inside – In the deepest part of me Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, For your voice- In busyness and in boredom, In certainty and in doubt, In noise and in silence. Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen - adapted from St Ignatius by John Veltri SJ … [Read more...]
The Science of Spirituality
The Science of Spirituality NPR recently ran a week long feature titled “The Science of Spirituality.” The subtopic presented on May 20, 2009 “Prayer may Reshape your Brain and your Reality” was especially intriguing. A neuroscientist Andrew Newberg has been scanning the brains of religious people for more than a decade. He is part of a new field called “neurotheology.” Scientists are finding that the brains of people who spend many hours in prayer and meditation are different. Are we wired for spirituality? Using a SPECT brain scanner, portions of the brain lit up and darken while people pray. The frontal lobe of the brain become more active during prayer and chanting and the parietal lobes grow dim. Newburg has observed this phenomenon with monks, nuns, Buddhists and Sikhs. Of course, this research is just beginning and could mean many things, much of which is speculative at this time, but isn’t it interesting that actual changes in the brain is noted during … [Read more...]
Telling God What To Do
Telling God What To Do Well, I did it! I took over the world, actually the entire universe today. Yep, I am in charge. And if you don’t believe if, you should have heard my prayers this morning. Suddenly I stopped and listen to what I was saying to God. I was telling God what to do. My morning prayers created a deluge of excess words and phrases beginning with do this, fix that and don’t forget to….. I was bossy, demanding, and obnoxious. Why if I were God I would annihilate that human in an instant! “ZAP!! You be gone, Lord-wanna-be!” Thank heaven we have a God of love and grace. God is the creator We are the creature. God is the Father/Mother We are the children God knows We follow God speaks We listen I believe God understands when I spill my wants and needs out to him. He knows the depth of my emotions and the intensity of my desperation when I try to seize control. He is patient beyond words with my childlike behavior and my temper tantrums. And He still loves … [Read more...]
Living Scattered
Scattered! Lately I have felt scattered. Divided between too many deadlines, rushing through life, and wondering if I am getting any place at all. My roots feel shallow and in need of deep watering. Scattered! So I pushed the pause button this morning. I stopped to be - rather than to do. I took a deep breath and paused. I read my Bible. I lingered in prayer. I harvested my journal. All spiritual habits that ground me and help me worship God, not my accomplishments. Basking in God’s presence renews me and redirects me. Many of us draw strength from prayer and scriptures, but writing my thoughts and feelings in my journal is also a foundational spiritual practice. I record not only my words, but what I believe God says. I harvest my journal by rereading, highlighting and summarizing my previous entries. I see patterns emerge and notice where I missed God’s whispers. And He surprised me this morning. Where I felt I like a failure (once again) by being … [Read more...]
The Master Gardener
Gardening has been a major theme in my life lately, including my spiritual life. The whole concept of gardening overflows with rich metaphors and Biblical references. How do you visualize God? When I look back over my spiritual journey, I know the mental image of God that guides me differed at various point of my life. Right how I see him as a gardener. I see God on his knees in my backyard, cultivating, working the soil. He wears a floppy straw hat that looks like it has had better days. He is working hard, preparing the soil and tenderly setting new plants. He is intent and focused on the job in front of him. Where am I in this picture? I want to say I am on my knees next to him, but that doesn’t feel right. I am on the deck just watching him work. Every time my ego wants to join him, something stops me and says quietly – “watch me.” So I wait. Waiting is hard, but the image is so strong I feel I have no choice. I wait. I watch. I learn. I learn God focuses on whatever … [Read more...]
A Prayer for the Tough Times
A Prayer for the Tough Times Ever know you need to pray but just can’t find the words? Ever feel so stymied in your prayer life, you thirst for a new way to pray? I just finished reading and reviewing a simple gift book by Max Lucado titled For the Tough Times. I usually enjoy Lucado’s writing, especially his inspirational “Maxisms” and word pictures, but this book was almost too simplistic. Nevertheless, it did remind me of an approach to prayer that I have not used for a long time and which can be very helpful in tough and/or dry times. Take a short Bible verse and repeat it slowly, emphasizing the different words. Pause between each time the verse is repeated so the words can sink into your heart and refresh your soul. In this book Lucado uses Romans 8:31 “God is for us.”So the prayer would be like this: God is for us. God is for us God is for us God is for us Of course any meaningful Bible verse can be used. One of my favorites is: The Lord is my … [Read more...]
Help! My Roots are Showing and Growing
My husband and I camped out west for three weeks last summer seeing many of beautiful national parks. While we traveled, enjoying the trip, my perennial backyard garden grew and grew unsupervised. Since no one ‘deheaded’ the plants, many went to seed and multiplied huge new root systems. With a new growing seasons starting, I now have a jungle instead of a garden. Though I love fresh mint in my ice tea, the spring batch is producing enough already to flavor a Pacific Ocean supersized glass. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not healthy. Did you ever watch “The Trouble with Tribbles” on the old television show Star Trek? The more they killed the fuzzy little fur balls, the more they multiplied. Like the tribbles, my lilac bush decided to reproduce itself, sending up millions of shoots. Cutting them all back last year must have angered the plant as it definitely is seeking revenge this spring. I love my black eyes Susans which have expanded their roots and are showing … [Read more...]