Possibly one of the greatest disciplines and opportunities in life is that of prayer. Sadly enough, I think that prayer kinda gets a bad rap. Its possible that you read the first line and said to yourself, prayer, boring, next blog. Hang on there trooper! Let me explain. I think we might have some cool stuff to learn. Many of us, when we think of prayer we have our own formulations for what prayer is and should be. For some, prayer is a distress cry. When we finally realize we are stuck and can't do things on our own we resort to prayer. Its a last minute desperation "hail mary" (pun intended). For other prayer is what happens at dinner tables and church meetings. Still others are wary of reading on due to feelings of guilt. Guilt that comes from a lacking prayer life or no prayer life. Guilt that reveals a strained relationship with the savior. Well here's my confession...
Sometimes I find myself right with you. Maybe these feelings and attitudes don't apply to you. That's wonderful and inspiring. I need to learn a thing from you sometimes. But before this blog post begins to sound depressing, I want to share with you the joys that I have found in different types of prayer.
Different types of prayer?? huh? Is there such a thing? Don't we have to make sure we throw in some obligatory prayer phrases like "hedges of protection" and "to the nourishment of our bodies?" Well, those phrases are just fine but what if we started thinking of prayer a little differently. What if we started picturing the person we are praying to. What if we took a lesson from Jesus and prayed to "Our Father who is in heaven."
I dont know about you, but my idea of a perfect father is one that sacrifices for the good of his children, one that loves to go on adventures with his kids, loves to hike, build campfires, teach you how to drive a truck. We respect our father, but also find comfort in him. We know that in times of trouble we have peace with him there because we know that we are going to be alright. If someone would dare hurt us, our father would burn with anger. If we wander into danger, he corrects us, because he loves us. This is what I want to see every time I pray to my heavenly father.
Today, in my time of prayer I, for once, tried to listen instead of talk. That's a tough thing to do sometimes. I've heard people call this kind of prayer 'listening prayer' or 'contemplative prayer' but today it was just a resting and an asking time for me. I wish everyone could stop right now for 30 minutes and practice letting go of our itinerary and listening for direction. The most amazing thing is that the Lord WANTS to speak to us without competition of our attention. And the great thing is that God is an eternal encourager, your biggest fan, and your biggest source of peace.
Allow me to be transparent for a moment and share the wonderful word the Lord had for me this morning. Testimonies are always great aren't they! I feel as though the Lord speaks to me often through pictures. After a moment in prayer, I saw what looked to be my heart filled with dry soil. You know, the kind of soil you might find in a flowerpot that is old. It was light in color, dry, had lost its nutrients, it was flaky and almost crumbled like dust. In that moment I saw a hand pulling out the dry soil until it was completely empty. Then all of a sudden this hand started packing in soil again except this time it was moist, dark in color, and looked like premium potting soil. A small plant started to grow from that soil and almost immediately a full grown tree was protruding from my heart. Sound like a riddle to you? me too. I think God loves to work in riddles (parables) I think its his way of having us search out the true meaning.
All I know is that last I was feeling a bit dry, but praise to God that this morning I feel like the Lord has given me new soil and a new energy for the kingdom. Who says that prayer has to be boring? Why don't you try this new technique today?
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