Image from SamanthaKrieger.com
I've been reading and interesting book written by Margaret Feinberg called "The Sacred Echo". The sub title of the book is, 'Hearing God's voice in every area of your life'. Here is a picture of Margaret and the cover of the book.
So may times when I pray, I find myself struggling to focus on what I'm praying about due to the many things that pop into my mind. Things like grocery lists, calls to make, shelves to dust and many other various 'to do's' often time succeed in distracting me from my intended purpose, praying.
Margaret's words have a way of comforting and challenging the prayfully distracted individual. She confirms that I'm not the only person on the planet that struggles in focusing on prayer and offers some helpful advice in working out the distractions.
Today I had the opportunity to share some conversation and prayer with some high school students and we spent most of the time talking about the parable of the prodigal son. We talked about who in the parable we most identified with, who we would like to be in the parable and who we actually most resemble. In the end of the discussion, we spent time focusing on the greatness of the father's love for his sons, even the prodigal one. I think our perspective on God greatly effects how we approach prayer and conversations with God. If we perceive an angry or critical God, we will respond and communicate in and out of fear. Last time I checked, fear isn't a good motivator in relationships.
So if we can begin to see God as the 'father' character in the parable of the prodigal son, I think our approach to prayer would begin to change. If we better understood that the father loved the son when he rebelled, when he was tending pigs, when he decided to come home and even when he first walked away; I think we might be better able to take steps to speaking to this God of love via our prayers.
Margaret talks a great deal about paying better attention to God and the way he tries to speak into our lives and refers to them as, echos. The following is a great explanation of God's echos and this truth of God's great love for us.
"When God echos I love you, it's not a slice of information but a feast of transformation. I am invited to experience the fullness of God's love in my life, heart and spirit. The holy metamorphosis is desinged to ring so genuine and true that others can't help but notice. When I love you is alive in my heart, I become freer to love others. When I love you is alive in my mind, I become better at expressing that love. When I love you is alive in my life, I become a smidgen closer to being who God has called and created me to be."
(The sacred echo, pg 38)
If we can receive God's love, then we will be able to share it through the words and actions in our lives. We need to really understand God's great love for us, before we can replicate it in our world. How greatly though the world needs to truly experience love in a sincere and selfless way, just like the prodigal son did.
The words, "I love you", can make a great impact on us and the world around us. Our actions even more so. Maybe today, love's echo will meet a new set of ears, and make all the difference in the world.
Comments
I do agree that the more centered I am in Him, the more effective I am....and the more comfortable I am in just letting it look how it is.
Well written and well received. Thank you.
2. i didn't know it was NaBloPoMo or i might have tried it. i'm 8 for 14 in Feb so far. i go in spurts, between my two blogs though i just realized i'm 11 for 14 this month. hm, i just looked up the site and i see it's a monthly thing - cool!