Sunday, May 8, 2016

Dear God,

Your word, your spirit word lifts us up, shining light on our path, moving us from the shadows to the light of your spirit.  What power from on high!

This morning's reading from Sacred Space - The Prayer Book 2016, speaks powerfully to me as I lay in bed recovering from an outbreak of shingles.  Instead of participating in worship at church, I put on the calming music of Tim Janis who always leads me to you.  When I opened my devotional book and read the word of faith about prayer, it caused me to consider the nature of prayer.  An Irish Jesuit writes, "There is an old Latin tag for an extended time of prayer such as a retreat:  vacatio Deo.  It means idleness for God, emptiness before God, a vacation or holiday with God." 

What joy fills my heart when I think of prayer as a holiday with you!  When you call out to me to pray, it is like being called to this wondrous holiday with you alone.  It connotes a special time, a holy time, a beautiful time with the God of the universe.  Who better to spend a holiday with than you, O God!

You show me again prayer is not primarily about talking, asking for help, or jabbering about this and that, it is a quiet time, where the mouth stops speaking and the heart starts listening.  It is a time of utter reverence, a worship time.  It is a quieting of my own spirit in order to hear the spirit of the living Lord.

Thank you
for the lesson
of faith.
Thank you
for reminding me
to listen
more than talk.
Thank you
for the
treasured moments
you give us
when we
let your word
speak to us.

Love, Andrea