The lead piece is from "Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris. In this book she takes many of the words and images of the faith and attempts to put some reality and life to them.
PRAYER AS MYSTERY (continued)
Prayer does not "want." It is ordinary experience lived with gratitude and wonder, a wonder that makes us know the smallness of oneself in an enormous and various universe.
What could make a day in the life of any of us extraordinary than to enter "ordinary experience lived with gratitude and wonder." To be so aware of the place in which I operate and move and breathe and yet to be able to sense the vastness of life in time and space. To have the sense of the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and to be able to contemplate the multitude of people who are wandering the globe at this very moment is a holy time. And yet, it is exactly what takes place in that time we have traditionally called prayer. The shopping list usually associated with prayer must be set aside as we let ourselves take on the great wonder of God's creation and that brilliance of life that is all around us. This kind of wonder may be the beginning of peacemaking and justice that will make it easier to bow and to bend and welcome and embrace more than my own, my own kind, and all my wishes and wants. Prayerful amazement.
Connection: Let yourself wonder today. Within the many "in between" times that enter our day, feel free to "take off" and enter that eternity of hopefulness and joy...Prayer.
Lord God we are taken up into the wide and glorious view of your blessed reign when you invite us to lift up our lives in prayer. Let the simple prayers of our day teach us about the way we are connected and surrounded by your beloved people. Amen.
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