Praying with Nature

THE PRACTICE INVOLVES a deep examination of a natural object—a leaf, a flower, a tree, the grass, the sky, anything. In this prayer a certain amount of time is set aside during which you will examine your item in silence, after you have begun by noting your intention and desire to see God in all.

We rarely take the time to really look at things. So in this practice, you have the opportunity to look deeply. Examine the veins on a leaf. Appreciate the shape, the texture, the color of a tree branch. Allow your mind to imagine how this object came into being, its various stages of growth. What other creatures have benefited from the shade of the tree? Realize that you are breathing the oxygen produced by the grass beneath your feet.

– Daniel Wolpert
Creating a Life with God

Make Room

Today’s Reflection Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room WHAT JESUS WANTS for Christmas is a vacancy, an opening, some room. He can’t be crammed into my heart if I keep everything I’ve ever accumulated. I have to do some letting go; I have to begin my spring cleaning in the early days of winter. For me to say yes to Jesus, I will have to say no to a few (or many) other things. Is Jesus interested in my ability? Doesn’t he crave instead my availability? Can my prayer be listening more than talking? Dare I pray, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”? … Is there room in our hearts, in our lives, for Jesus to come? If we have no joy, is it because we have no room for joy? God has built a room inside each one of us, a little chapel, an inn designed for Jesus to come and reside within us. But hasn’t it become overgrown with weeds, cluttered with rubbish? The room in me seems too shabby for the splendid Lord to enter. But no room is too shabby. Jesus was born in a frigid stall where the cattle were housed. You have the room. Take a long look at the pile of baubles and busyness and decide this is the year to “let every heart prepare him room.” Pull down the cobwebs; wield the heavy-duty vacuum. Don’t miss your true love, your heart’s desire. – James C. Howell Why This Jubilee?

Illusions of Control

Today’s Reflection CAN WE SURRENDER the mantle of trying to be, as someone has described us in our drivenness, “General Manager of the Universe?” Many of us are so accustomed to trying to be good – doing what is right, covering everything on our to-do list – that we live our lives, even our spiritual lives, at a frantic pace. We cram every minute of every day with activity and achievement, measuring our worth by what we earn or what good deeds we have done. But this beatitude [“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)] says that approach is all wrong. When we offer to God what we cannot be or do – our weaknesses – then the kingdom is ours. God says in this beatitude, “When you give up your illusions of control and power and acknowledge your absolute need for me, all that I have opens to you.” – Mary Lou Redding The Power of a Focused Heart

Upper Room Reflections

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Prayers of Affirmation Today’s Reflection THE TERM creatures of habit isn’t just a catchy phrase. Its truth is gaining credence in the world of science as well as in our everyday world of observation. As noted, each time we engage a thought, a particular neural pattern deepens. The more frequently a behavior or feeling is repeated, the more likely it is to be repeated again. No wonder Christians through the centuries have employed chant, prayer beads, and other forms of repetitive prayer. Posted: 18 Nov 2018 10:01 PM PST

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

The Examen Today’s Reflection ONE OF THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICES I have come to love is the practice of Examen, or a prayerful examination of the day. The practice comes from Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a sixteenth-century mystic and the founder of the Jesuit order of priests. He believed this form of prayer to be one of the most important, and he saw it as a gift of God to be practiced regularly. … In this prayer practice, you focus and reflect on the awareness of God’s presence throughout the day. You ask questions such as, Where did I see God today?, At what points in the day did I feel far from God?, How did I experience joy today?, and What made me sad today? – Jenny Youngman Scrambled Starts

COMPASSION IS THE VITAL CORE of Christianity.

All Are Beloved Today’s Reflection COMPASSION IS THE VITAL CORE of Christianity. Jesus summed up all of his teachings with the commandment to love God with our entire being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Tragically, however, we are rarely encouraged to extend compassion to ourselves. In fact, it has often been downright discouraged. . . . And yet, Jesus’ invitation is to love our neighbors as ourselves, not instead of ourselves. The care, good will, and delight we extend to ourselves should be the measure of that which we offer to others. We do not love ourselves well. Self-denigration, self-loathing, and chronic self-critique are epidemic. … Self-denigration violates the teachings of Jesus. Jesus sought to restore personhood, not diminish it. … In the eyes of the God Jesus knew, we are all sons and daughters of the divine, we are all beloved, and we are all held in the sacred radiance that delights in our beauty and giftedness. – Weavings, Nov/December 2015/January 2016

A Truth

THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY REFORMER Martin Luther said that the gospel comes to us in the form of promise: God has acted and will act to save us. The God of the Bible is a promise-making, promise-keeping God. …

When we forget that God relates to us on the basis of gracious promise, we may be tempted to turn our relationship to God into an if-then relationship. If I am good, then God will love me; if I study my Bible, then God will listen to me; if I tithe, then God will bless me; if I serve the poor, then God will reward me.

Whenever we take this approach, we are reshaping the gospel. … God’s promise of salvation never comes as a response but as a free, unconditional gift.

– L. Roger Owens
Belonging to the Truth, e-book from Disciplines 2015