“Proper praying is like a person who wanders through a field gathering flowers- -one by one, until they make a beautiful bouquet. In the same manner, a person must gather each letter, each syllable, to form them into words of prayer” (Rabbi Nachman).

I love that sentiment. I’ve had the privilege of being around some people who were amazing pray-ers. They may not have had the best conversational skills, but when they opened their mouths to pray, something beautiful happened.

I also believe that prayer isn’t just about beauty of words. You don’t have to be a poet to pray. In fact, you don’t always have to have words for God to hear you. I have sometimes borrowed the prayers of others, whether in the Book of Common Prayer or other written prayers. I have known many people who pray Scripture back to God. Even at times when there are no words at all, God is able to understand your sighs and groans as a kind of prayer language.

I can testify that there are times when I go to pray when the words flow out of me like they’re coming from somewhere else. It could very well be the Holy Spirit praying in me — like God in me is praying to God in heaven. I like that because I know that I am praying God’s will and God’s words instead of my own, and that God will always honor and grant those requests.

It boggles my mind that prayer doesn’t boggle my mind more. The very idea that I can have bold access to the throne of the God of the universe at any time in any place isn’t ever something any of us should ever take for granted, and yet we do.

Since it’s late and I am a bit weary, I’ll let one of my favorite guest bloggers take this one. Actually, it’s a favorite quote of mine from one C. S. Lewis, taken from Mere Christianity:

“I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.”

These days, it doesn’t take a lot to fool me. For instance, today I put a piece of paper in my rain jacket pocket to take to work, only to forget where I put it and spend the rest of the day looking for it. I’m just about to the point where I can plan my own surprise birthday party. I honestly thought senility would take longer.

But here I am, still kicking. I guess that counts for something. And every day is an adventure — although some days are more adventurous than I’d like them to be. But I think as long as I can laugh at myself, at least one person will be amused. And it helps keep me looking at the positives and the bright side of things. So, basically a win-win.

“Think about those beautiful wild lilies growing over there. They don’t work up a sweat toiling for needs or wants—they don’t worry about clothing. Yet the great King Solomon never had an outfit that was half as glorious as theirs!” (Luke 12:27, The Message)

I looked it up out of curiosity. The average lifespan of a lily plant is about 2 years, but each flower lasts for about two weeks. Flowers in general don’t tend to last all that long, yet I’m always astonished at all their riotous colors.

I saw a yellow flower today while I was out walking. I think it was a daylily, but I’m not an expert when it comes to botany, so I could easily be wrong. I do know that I’ve rarely seen such a bright shade of yellow. It made me think of how much time, effort, and money we spend to create dyes and fabrics with colors that match those that grow in nature all the time.

Those flowers don’t worry about how long they’ll be in bloom or how much rain they’ll get. One flower isn’t concerned about being as vibrant as the next. They just grow and bloom. They soak in as much sun and rain as they can get in their short lives.

Yet here we are fretting over every little thing. We are such fearful creatures, especially since the pandemic. We’re sometimes so busy being afraid and anxious that we miss our lives. But that’s not the way of Abba’s children. That’s not how Jesus taught us to live.

Jesus told us to trust in our Heavenly Father the way an earthly child would trust in his or her own parents to give them what they need. He told us to worry about today’s concerns, not yesterday’s or tomorrow’s. He told us to be like the flowers that grow and bloom where they’re planted.

That sounds like a good plan to me.

I love that. The best way to honor someone that you love who has passed is to be the things about them that you loved the most. You can honor their generosity by being generous yourself. You can honor their sacrificial spirit by having that same spirit in you. Of course, it won’t look the same in you as it did in them, but you can still pay it forward.

As much as I love seeing flowers at funerals, this is a better way of celebrating their lives and legacies. Not that you can’t do both. Flowers are pretty, but they don’t last very long. Good deeds and kindness will carry on through generations and no one knows how many people will be transformed by your living out the legacies of those you loved.

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”

I’m a fan of modern worship, but there’s something deeply resonant about an old-school hymn that speaks to me in a way that few of the newer worship songs can. Maybe it’s that people by and large wrote better back then. Maybe it’s that they had deeper and better theology.

Whatever the case, this one is from a hymn called “The Love of God Is Greater Far” written in 1923 and penned by Frederick Martin Lehman. I know because I just looked it up, but this is one that I don’t remember ever singing back in the day. Or maybe it’s just one of those third verses to hymns that we always skipped.

But still, it’s a beautiful reminder of the lavish — even prodigal — love of Father God for His children. It’s something to remember on the dark days and cold nights of pain and loss when God doesn’t seem near.

I recommend you read the whole advertisement. I recently paid $84 plus tax for one day at Dollywood (which I do not regret), but back in the day you could get a whole lot of entertainment for $39.95. I wish I had a DeLorean or a Tardis some other form of time travel machine to take me back. Of course, back then some people complained about how EXPENSIVE $39.95 was. And how dare they charge over $1 a gallon for gas.

It’s interesting to think that this year marks 25 years since the closing of Opryland theme park, which in my humble opinion was not one of Nashville’s most shining moments. Especially since they replaced it with a mall.

But I have memories. And occasionally I’ll see a vintage picture or ad that brings it all back like it was yesterday. Good times.

“Sometimes the most gracious, merciful thing God could ever do is wound you. To wound you, (and in that wound bind you to Himself) is far more gracious than to bless you with everything you want and have you not know Him” (Matt Chandler).

Wow. That’s hard. My first response isn’t to give this comment a like and a heart. My first is to try and find some kind of loophole or way out of this wounding. Why would God purposefully hurt me? Isn’t God all about love, and love never ever hurts anything or anyone, right?

Most of the time, God wounds me by letting me go my own way and get what I want. That’s when I find out that where I thought I wanted to go and what I thought I wanted completely failed to bring me any satisfaction or contentment. Sometimes, God lets me endure the consequences of my own choices and actions.

I read this recently and it spoke volumes to me about why God allows suffering and tragedy in the lives of His people:

‘The reason verses such as Romans 8:28, which promise Christians ‘good’, seem to jar with our experiences is because we don’t really know what good is. In the Bible, good isn’t a longed-for marriage. It isn’t a comfortable home, a great job or even a faithful church family. Good is God’s name being glorified and his Kingdom advancing. Good is God’s people being made holy and learning to trust in him more. God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify himself and he will not be thwarted. So, when pain seems pointless, the God who wounds shows me that it is good. The God who wounds has done this for his glory, to grow my reliance on him, to make me more like Jesus and to have his name proclaimed. That is good” (Brianna McClean).

I think about the time when Jacob wrestled with God. At some point, God wounded Jacob by dislocating his hip so that from then on he walked with a limp. But with the limp came a change in his character. He went from being the deceiver Jacob to being the fighter and prince of God Israel.

Ultimately, I define good not by my standard but by God’s. If I believe that God is good and everything He does is good, then that defines goodness more than what I see and feel and experience, so I can trust in the true goodness of God.

Here’s a link to the full article by Brianna McClean, entitled When God Wounds.

When God Wounds

So many people don’t like cats because they say that cats aren’t friendly. I for one can’t speak for every single feline in the world, but I can say that my little tortie was quite pleased to see me back home after me being away for a few days of vacation.

She was curious about the contents of my suitcase, so she did her usual investigating until she was satisfied that there was nothing to 1) eat and/or 2) play with. She may also have been telling me that I’m not allowed to go anywhere out of town for a while after this.

Then she decided to curl up in my lap and expose her belly for a good belly rub. Apparently, not all cats are fans of the belly rub, but this little tortie is a fan. That was her way of letting me know that she has forgiven me for abandoning her for those five days and not bringing her anything back with tuna or catnip in it. All is well.

“Use what little obedience you are capable of, even if it be like a grain of mustard seed. Begin where you are. Live this present moment, this present hour as you now sit in your seats, in utter, utter submission and openness toward God. Listen outwardly to these words, but within, behind the scenes, in the deeper levels of your lives where you are all alone with God the Loving Eternal One, keep up a silent prayer, “Open Thou my life. Guide my thoughts where I dare not let them go. But Thou darest. Thy will be done.” Walk on the streets and chat with your friends. But every moment behind the scenes be in prayer, offering yourselves in continuous obedience” (Thomas R. Kelly).

What I’ve learned is that when you feel stuck spiritually, you can go back to one step of obedience that you’ve been slow to take or not even taken at all. Do that, then the next step will come. And keep on praying.