The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. Silence gives us a new outlook on everything. We need silence in order to touch others. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. God is always waiting...
Many new friends have come into my life...Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, New Agers, and others—including lots of atheists and agnostics, too. One of the most dramatic of those friendships began in the aftermath of 9/11/2001. Like a lot of churches, our little...
Let the pulse of our heart throb now, according to the cadences of your rule: command and we will obey, overrule and we will yield, lead and we will walk, where we would never think to go. from Prayers for a Privileged People
It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another...
Slow me down, Lord.Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with...
If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them.
People who know they will die live very carefully. Not careful as in fearful; careful as in full of care. Every word, every act, every relationship holds the possibility of giving birth to something filled with great care. And that thing need not be showy or dramatic,...
It isn’t a bit surprising that you find the Psalms and even your own attempts to develop personal prayer an ‘exercise’ rather than an ‘experience.’ One has to make up one’s mind to submit to training, including the drudgery of training; nor is one’s spiritual state...
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.
Once having the vision [of a God-intoxicated life], the second step to holy obedience is this: Begin where you are. Obey now. Use what little obedience you are capable of, even if it be like a grain of mustard seed. Live this present moment...as you now sit in your...