Nine weeks of Leaning

Over the past nine weeks I have been exploring what it means to engage in creative prayer and I have learned more than I thought I would.  If you'd like to see more specifics, check out my previous posts.  In general though, I have learned that prayer looks so much different than I ever knew it could. 

Prayer seems to spring up within us if we can only quiet our minds, it does not need to be forced or follow any given format.  Growing up I learned that prayer was kind of like a letter, it has an introduction, it has a middle and it has an end.  Of course the introduction is your invocation or calling on of God's name and your end is the "Amen".  The body of the prayer is come combination of thanking God and asking for God to interceede on both your behalf and the behalf of others.  This form of prayer is most commonly found throughout our church services and in our small groups and yet this is only one kind of prayer among a limitless number of ways to pray. 

What I found the most amazing was that when I was able to get out of my own way.  When I was able to let go of how I thought I "should" pray or what I "should be praying for" and simply spent some quiet time with God that my prayers seemed to bubble up to the surface.  What was even more amazing to me than this was the depth that my prayers had.  It was as though I was finally listening to something deeper than the immediate fleeting thoughts that consume my day.  It was as though I was able to hear my own deep yearnings and desires that I normally do not let into the light of the day.  I was able to hear God speaking in my life.  And I was able to hear and see those around me and their deep joys and needs.

It's pretty amazing; you stop thinking and worrying about what you should be praying for and your actually opened up and able to see the things that need prayer.  There is a simplicity to it and yet it is so incredibly difficult to get to that place of deep listening. 

Over these past few weeks I have learned a lot about myself, my own deep desires and yearnings as well as about what God is saying to me and how my eyes have been opened to those I encounter.  I look forward to exploring this further and seeing where m practices take me.