Prayer Prompt

Lesson from Mr. Friendly

On Saturday morning's run I passed Mr. Friendly (my made-up name for the dog whose yard I run past often).

Mr. Friendly was across the yard, digging with moderate passion beside one of the chain link fence posts. Didn't seem to be an escape maneuver, rather a way to pass the time. I think Mr. Friendly carries his freedom with him.

Mr. Friendly heard the scrape of my shoe on the road gravel. He lifted his head from his digging and stared at me, with that same moderate passion.

Mr. Friendly glanced at the not-so-deep hole then back in my direction. He was obviously trying to decide: dig or bark, bark or dig.

I could almost see the "I'm supposed to bark at strangers" conditioning ticker-tape across his mind. With a jolt and a jump he sprinted across the yard, barking full force.

I didn't slow my pace. As he got to the fence along the road, I said, "Good morning, Mr. Friendly." Mr. Friendly tilted his head as if "Say wha-?" Then he seemed to shrug his shoulders with a "What's the diff?"

He loped back to the hole beside the post without a backward glance. He resumed digging.

I ran on and thought how much I identified with Mr. Friendly. Torn between doing what I want to do (dig a hole) even if it has no good reason and doing what I feel I should do (bark) because it's part of who I am.

I remembered how late in my life the decision to do what I feel I should do began to override doing what I wanted to do. That's the presence of grace.

I looked back at Mr. Friendly. He was digging again. Digging happier, with more passion. I'm sure he was feeling good that he'd given up the dig time to throw me a bark.

Prayer Prompt 7

I love solitary time, in proper amounts.

I do not enjoy feeling alone. Ceilings get lower and minutes get longer.

Real-izing that I'm never alone has taken me years and years. And when it happened it seemed so obvious, I felt it was a "duh-scovery."

My mind has known for a long, long time that I am God's creation. My heart has been a slow study.

And it's the heart that must feel it for it to be true. That's true for me, anyway.

I feel you, God
Everyday you live
within me.

The solitary time, now, is refreshing, refueling. I am not alone.

Neither are you.

But to Ourselves

Prayer is not something we do to God but to ourselves.

Discover the Power within You, Eric Butterworth (p.106)

Prayer communicates our wants and needs, our thanks and anxieties more for our own ears and hearts and minds to know than for God to answer. Voicing what we want clarifies that want and begins our mental, physical and emotional acceptance of the want being satisfied.

God is everywhere and (so) God is nowhere else. We are of God. God is of us. We cannot communicate with God “out there,” for God is within us, is not part of us but is of us. And we are of God. Praying, then, is conversation with the Self as it is with God.

As we realize that praying is talking with God and with ourselves, we move forward in and with awareness that we are God, that God is we. We activate and actualize the Christ spirit that will have us communicate (more) directly with God: spirit to spirit (internal) rather than heart to mind to voice to God (external).

Jesus’ statement that worship is to be “in Spirit and in Truth” applies to prayer as well. Prayer is worship of the Oneness, Spirit, Presence and Power of God…and of God in us. Prayer opens the consciousness that God is all. God is complete wellness, complete wisdom. God is prosperity and abundance. And so are we. Prayer allows that realization to be born within us.

As our prayers open our hearts, we know God knows what we want (without our asking). We come to understand God does not “do.” Rather, God exists; God’s existence knows (therefore, creates) existence of everything. Thus our hearts know the truth: the fulfillments of our wants and needs are manifest all ready. Already.

Our prayers do not cause God to satisfy our wants and needs. Our praying lets us know that as God is, so are the answers to our asking. Praying, then, allows us to know that opening our hearts is the answer.

Prayer is merely the tool used in the process. Praying fulfills. Ourselves.

 

Photo Source: David Paul Ohmer, http://flickr.com/photos/the-o/634955994/

Prayer Prompt 6

The energy and concentration required just to live this human life makes me give inordinate attention to my being.  Brings lots of attention to my mind. Causes me to overvalue my feelings, my opinions.

My ego too often convinces me it serves my own good. I almost hear it say it helps me not only survive but also succeed.

It helps when I can remember that it's not all about me.

I adore you, God.
You are greater than my mind,
Greater than my heart.

This reminder, taken just once a day makes it so much easier.

If you wish, I hope you'll enjoy its use.

Prayer Prompt 5

We live in physical bodies that take action in a physical world.

Impossible to deny we give a lot of focus to our physical being.

We live in a visual society, driven by commerce steered by media.

Impossible to deny we spend much of that focus on how we look, and much of our worry on looking good enough.

But most truly we are our spirit. The body is temporary; the spirit continues.

The beauty is truly within us. Our beauty expresses itself from within us. That beauty is so much more than our body, hair, face, size, shape, skin, clothes, muscles, posture.

Knowing we are beautiful does us good because it's true. We are beautiful; there's no reason to forget that.

You are beautiful, God.
I receive my beauty from you.
Help me remember.

For sure, the human body is a beautiful sculpture, an outstanding architecture, a masterful engineering design, and first-rate mechanics. It is truly beautiful in and of itself, no matter how it looks according to 21st Century Beauty Standards.

But the greatest beauty is the spirit that fills, fuels, fosters our body and our mind.

I hope this Prayer Prompt helps you know you're beautiful.

Prayer Prompt 4

Some mornings I begin my meditation with the mantra, Om Namah Shivaya. Its beauty is the Sanskrit vibrational tone. 108 repetitions aloud settle me into a beautiful meditation place.

Om Namah Shivaya escapes specific translation. The closest I've found--perhaps the one I like best-- is I bow to Shiva. Shiva is one of the 3 Hindu gods of this creation, the god who destroys the universe but also--and I feel more importantly--the god of the inner self.

This morning I finished the mantra and eased into silent meditation. My body stilled by the vibration. My mind placed the phrase I am one with God within each of my breaths.

Later in the day this prayer prompt came through clearly. It is the reminder I so often need and want:

I celebrate you, God.
I celebrate that you and I
are One.

Oneness--true unity--is the purpose I know we are meant to fulfill.

Love and blessings,