Thursday, August 4, 2011

Dear God,

I saw the people drive in to the green grassy parking lot. And I watched them walk up the old stone steps into the century old church. I thought they might be gathering for a wedding or a meeting of some sort. Later I found out they had gathered to pray for the priest's daughter who is suffering with a brain aneurysm.

There's something mystical about people gathering to pray. The fact that people would get into their cars in the middle of the day, drive to church, walk the long walk from the parking lot, and then spend 30 or 40 minutes in prayer is amazing to me. I was at the church with spiritual retreatants who had come to Maine, to my home, yearning for a spiritual experience that only you could give. We were by the stone wall at the summer chapel overlooking the ocean as each of us were grappling with a spiritual exercise intended to draw us nearer to you. Observing people who were drawn to pray was a spiritual experience in itself.

I find that you provide holy times when we least expect it. If we are expectant, thirsty, and longing for more of you we will discover you in unexpected and beautiful ways. Today we found so many examples of your living presence.

Open our hearts
to you,
Great and Wondrous God,
keep us
longing for more.
Teach us
to be open,
ready, desirous,
and prepared
to take
the path
of faith.
Motion for us
and make
our feet
move forward,
I pray.

Love, Andrea