Meditation from Day 31

I often pray when things come to mind to pray about.  I think it works this way for most people.  I’ll go throughout my day and if someone or something comes to mind I’ll pray about that.  But there are times when I want to pray, and don’t know what I should pray for- my soul may be restless and my body physically fatigued and my mind wont stay on a single thought.  It’s because of these reasons, and a few others, that I bought the Celtic Daily Prayer book.  The book has several sections that are all meant to be used in conjunction with each other.  There are morning prayers and complines (evening prayers), meditations for each day of the month, prayers for “rites of passage” like birth, dedications, marriage, and a few others, prayers for times and seasons such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Pentecost, Harvest, prayers of blessings and graces, and then it has two years worth of daily readings (devotionals).

I find myself using this book during the restless times of my life.  When I feel restless it is very hard to pray, but having something to read and focus my mind on helps immensely.  Often times as I’m reading and trying to mediate on the words in the book my mind still wanders, but that doesn’t discourage me too much because I figure that I was distracted trying to pray in my own words.  I’ve also heard the argument that praying writen prayers or liturgy is not the same as praying what is in your heart.  And that praying what someone else has prayed can lead your prayer life to become trite and ritualistic.  I’m sure it can, but that hasn’t been my experience with it.  I see it as a way to join in the Church and pray together.  I see beauty in praying the words that other Christians have prayed for hundreds if not thousands of years.  I do understand that argument though, but I think that people who use this type of praying as a method and not the way to pray experience great joy in it.

So this brings us up to Friday.  I read the meditation for Day 31 and immediately thought of  our experiment.  I want to share it with you.  Does this remind you at all of what we are doing?  Does this inspire you?  Do you desire to be a part of this type of community?

L’ABRI
But in addition to these conversations and discussions, something else was hapening.  People were finding it hard to “shake off” what they were living through.
They were there while we were praying for things that they later found had been given…
They were being given (not by us, but by God’s answers to prayers) a demonstration that God exists…
It was a combination which could never be “planned” or “put on” as an exhibit…it had to be real. …a completely new work … would never have been possible if we had not been uprooted completely in ever way, and if in that uprooting we had not decided to pray for God’s solution and leading every step of the path as it wound through unknown territory.
We also prayed that if it grew, God would send us the workers of His choice, rather than our trying to advertise or get people to help us … So not to advertise, but simply to pray that God will send those of His choice, and keep others away, is a different way of doing things.
We don’t say everyone ought to work this way, we simply say we feel we were led by God to do this as a demonstration that He is able to bring the people to this place- even a tiny out-of-the-way place … and only to bring the ones He wants to have there for His purpose.

Edith Schaeffer