We pray ourselves into LIFE. If we are to be people of courage and loving kindness and mercy and peace....etc., we must make that the content of our prayers. In our praying we set the groundwork for our living. Don't think of praying as some formal task. Think of praying as breathing...breathing in air that is full of life that is courageous, loving, merciful, peaceful...etc. Praying in this way is within all of our capabilities. No words are needed...no correct language...no proper sentence structure...simply call upon our God to let loose the Spirit of God's reign and let it reign...let it reign...let it reign. Stanley Hauerwas writes about courage and being virtuous in life. For me he does this with a sense of prayerfulness...deliberate focus that gives birth to the many signs of the reign of God that come through the people of God. He writes:
...being virtuous involves not only having dispositions for appropriate action, but also a right "attitude" that includes having the appropriate emotions and desires. This is one of the reasons virtue requires such training, for we become what we are only through the gradual buildup of the appropriate characteristics.
The training includes the simple exercise of prayer. The training also includes the many ways we stumble and fall and continue on the way....praying. There are no quick fixes...no easy roads...no pills to take. Prayer is like day to day living. Prayer tends the ground of the garden that comes to blossom and bears the names of saints of God like you...and me.
Connection: Take note...you may have just prayed and simply did not put that name to it. Throughout the day, you may be praying and need to name it. Even in the wordless tear that may trickle out of your eye or the deep sigh that passes between two insignificant moments in the day, we utter prayers that help to build us up as God's beloved. Beyond those prayers, also remember to give space and time to deliberate prayerfulness.
Lord be present in our breath and our sighs for we often do not know how to lift up the concerns of our lives and yet they are many. Make us a prayerful people that we may be a people of purpose and deliberate action in our lives. Amen.
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