The choices for today were:
- Write down the different ways you pray and what prayer does for you. How do you pray when the vulture of hate feels trapped within you? How do you pray when sadness squeezes all the lime out of your body? How do you pray when goodness comes your way?
- Write a prayer that starts with peace for yourself and spread peace across the sky for all. Write poems as tiny prayers to send into the world.
When I was in my pastorate, my prayers varied from my corporal prayers during worship, to prayers that were more individualistically tailored to the person and the situation, yet still a bit more on the formal side. When I am praying for myself, my prayers vary from those said quietly inside my head to those that I say aloud. Pray for me is about me having a personal conversation with the Creator. It is about me stepping out in faith out of a personal agreement between the Creator and myself. Prayer for me is a statement of faith confirming the agreement that I have with the Creator. It is about the agreement that the co-creator is constantly working with me as I work to transform my life and to move from being a spiritual warrior who is working to live her life in a constant state of awareness and transformation. I know that the Creator is with me as I seek to live out the challenge in Romans 12:2, which is one of my favorite scriptures – do not be conformed to the ways of this world, but be transformed in it through the renewing of one’s mind. I am working at being ever mindful of what I say and do and the message and intent behind it. Is it about love, is my intent love. It is about my being patient with myself as I transform my life internally and externally. Prayer for me makes me feel like I just had an honest conversation with my best friend; someone who knows me better then I even know myself. Prayer for me is also a time when I so often have these two-way conversations with the Creator who confirms things for and challenges me when I am not being honest with myself or when I am putting up my defenses, like layers of an onion. Prayer is a time when I feel the Creator challenging me to take my faith to that next level. It is a time when I feel loved in a way that I cannot explain to anyone. It is a time when I silence my mind and my soul and spend quiet time just being in conversation with Love. It is a space I can enter into no matter how I am feeling. When I am angry, I can go with my anger and ask that I have the courage to look at why I am angry. Why am I allowing myself to experience this anger? What do I need to work through, release, and press through to repair whatever got restimulated? When I am sad, there tend to be more tears as I cry my way through the prayer, releasing the energy that is within me. It is about me saying I am hurting right now and I need to talk about why I am allowing myself to hurt right now. It is a time when I can just sit, cry, be, and once again press through the pain. And ask for the lesson I am learning to be revealed. I know that in all situations, there is a blessing and a lesson and I am constantly seeking out that blessing. When I am celebrating, it is a time when I do this happy dance with the Creator and give thanks for the blessings in my life. It really does not matter what I am feeling or experiencing now, I still go with faith, knowing that I will be guided to that next level in my life. There are also a few books that I enjoy going to and reciting prayers from. One of them is called earth prayers. It reminds me of how important it is to pray for our planet and all those in the world, the plants, the environment, and all that were created in the image of LOVE. Another book is a book of prayers from the Toltec wisdom tradition by don Miguel Ruiz whose teachings and writings always minister to my spirit. Finally is one of the prayer books of Mother Theresa whose humility and humble spirit always touches my heart and gives me additional food for thought throughout the day.