Tag: #faith

Four Prayerful Reflections on Play Being a Form of Prayer

Playing is another form of refreshing prayer just as creativity is.  It can be “played out” in many ways.  We can play alone or with others.  It can involve the physical activity of sports or the sedentary activity of playing cards.  It can be dinner and a movie alone or with friends.  One of my favorite forms of play is what Julia Cameron of the ARTISTS WAY, refers to as the Artist Date.  The Artist Date is when we set aside at least 30 minutes a week to experience something different, doing something we have done before but in a different way or maybe it is something we have done before, but we haven’t done it in a while.  

Artist Dates are times when our play is not done with anyone else except our Creator. I call them Jesus Dates.

Because you do it alone with God, it is a special way of being the prayer.  Being conscience of the presence of God helps you to see things in ways that you haven’t seen them before.  It is no longer a flea market item.  Who created it? Who used it?  Was it a gift?  For what occasion? What can I do with it?  You can find yourself praying for the former owners.  Every Artist Date can be reflective.  It can be a journey of imagination and wonder.  

God’s ways are infinite and the possible reflections that come from these dates bring about a union with God that can be both prayerful and refreshing.  

The best way to experience an Artist Date is to go out, but that is not always possible.  It requires some creativity to figure out something to do in the house, but it can be done.  The cup of tea is done thoughtfully as it turns into a tea party.  The basement or attic can become the garage sale with new items to discover.  The effort to leave the house or use your imagination within your home can, at times, seem daunting, but the results are worth it.  

As we grow up and the stresses of the world weigh heavy upon us, we often neglect the use of our imagination.  It seems childish, but it is not.  

God used His imagination to create the world.  Allow Him to continue to use it through you.

As you are filled with God, you will be helping others if you offer the date up as a prayer.  It is you being the prayer.  A means of praying without ceasing.  It is not just an afternoon of bicycling, taking a walk or going to a museum.  You will be refreshed and that will help you to willingly be there for your neighbor in need.  You will come out of your playful time with a greater infilling of God and that is just what the world needs.  While I am focusing on playing alone and calling them Artist Dates, this is also true when we are with friends.  People hold God, the Creator, within them.  When we are with others and mindful of that, we are in union with God as we experience His love and imagination being expressed through them.  With your very life, it is a beautiful prayer to offer up.   Either way, if we are mindful of God’s presence, play can be a time of refreshment, a fruitful  prayer and preparation for giving our neighbors what we have been filled up with…God.

Questions to Prayerfully Reflect On 

Pray and reflect on Peter being a part of the imagination of Jesus in order to be obedient  from Matt 17:24-27.

Pray and reflect on the servants being a part of the imagination of Jesus in order to help the newly married couple while, at the same time, starting His mission.  John 2:1-12.

When was the last time you were open to being imaginative?  Talk to God about it.

What are some ways you might play alone or with friends in order to be refreshed, closer to God and be the prayer?  Talk to God about them

THE PRAYER OF SCRIBBLE

Being aware that we could not create were we not united to God, the Creator of all, we become that unceasing prayer anytime we create, no matter what we create.  Given that, before we can even talk, God gave us the ability to pray through our gift of creativity.  Some call those first attempts scribble.  I call them prayer.  One of my favorite ways to pray is to turn on music that touches my soul and “scribble” with the flow. I always feel so close to God with this child-like method of prayer. 

DANDELIONS – SO MUCH MORE THAN WEEDS

Dandelions keep me mindful that God comes to us in the most humble of ways, but we don’t always see it because we are looking for Him in the grandeur.  They remind me not to try and uproot what God has planted.  When they come back and bloom after every cut, they show me that with God’s help, we can be resilient.  The yellow tells me to be cheerful and have joy in the Lord.  They tell me to be careful to honor those God has planted in our lives and not be disrespectful towards them as if they are weeds to be pulled.  Lastly, when they rise again after a cold hard winter, they tell me that death is a part of life, but it has no victory.

7 REFLECTIONS TO HELP US BLOOM WHEN GOD’S GARDENING PLAN IS NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED

Bloom where you are planted is something we hear often, but what happens when we don’t bloom as expected?

REFLECTION 

The tree outside my house blooms too early, in my opinion, every year. In April it decides it’s spring and blooms. Unfortunately the days of a warm April spring have long since passed and it blooms only to find its blossoms to be tossed to the ground by the spring winds and rain. More often than not I can only enjoy them for one or two days top. This year it didn’t follow its normal patter.  Much like everything else these days, I guess. It started to bloom on the tips of the branches and then stopped. Day after cold day it showed no progress.  It reminded me of so much of what is going on during this quarantine. Life was progressing and then it stopped. Like the tree we are frozen in time.

I started to wonder if it would bloom. Would I get to actually enjoy it longer this year? Will the blossoms still be on the tree only a day or two? Would more people get to enjoy it now that so many are out walking? Would people miss the chance to see it in full bloom if they skipped walking one day? As I was pondering the growth of the tree I realized that what I was wondering about, the tree wasn’t. In fact, nobody was wondering, but me. The tree didn’t focus on anything other than glorifying God. It would bloom when God said it was time to and God would be glorified by it whether one person saw it or many.  Nobody needed to plan to see the tree.  The gift was there and those who were open to seeing it and those God needed to see it, would see.  The truth is that God is in control and all the tree needs to do is be the tree it is meant to be,

APPLYING IT TO LIFE

  • How many times do we worry about the outcome and forget to enjoy the process? 
  • How often do we decide that success is determined by how many see our efforts? 
  • How often do we take inventory of our needs, determine what we need to do in order to have our needs met and then get upset when things do not go as planned? 

Unplanned circumstances that cause us to freeze in time, while at the same time, fill our heads with questions is not something limited to a health quarantine.  In fact, whenever circumstances are difficult, we often give ourselves a self-imposed quarantine as we feel stuck and don’t know which way to turn.  Currently, because of the quarantine, I am trying to decide if this is the right time for me to retire.  I saw this as happening in a year or two so the  suddenness and uncertainty are real.  Through it I know who has the answers and I am trying to follow God’s lead, while at the same time, trying to enjoy the journey.  

Trying to enjoy the journey when it’s difficult requires some daily reflection on where we are interiorly.  Some reflections that may be pondered for all of us in times such as these may be:

  • Am I experiencing peace or anxiety?
  • Am I trusting or trying to control?
  • Am I listening in silence?
  • In spite of all the difficulties, am I trying to enjoy this time in my life that will never come again?

Hidden within the moments that are difficult or unplanned are opportunities to grow and trust in God.  In each of us He is writing a Gospel story.  We need not worry about what is ahead.  We need only seek Him in the now.  

How we will proceed will depend on our trust in God.  He invites us to be totally emptied so He can fill us with His divinity.  Part of that means giving Him the wheel in the midst of our circumstances.  While God is always with us, we have the free will to decide if we want His help and to what degree we want it.  Oftentimes we play tug-of war in that we want it and then we act like we are in control and don’t want the help.  The choice is ours.

SEVEN REFLECTIONS FOR PRAYERFUL PONDERING

  • Read and reflect on Matthew 6:24-34
  • Is there something in your life that is not blooming as you had planned or that you had planned on and yet is far more difficult than you had thought?
  • Can you find gifts hidden for you within these circumstances that you had not planned on? 
  • Are you acting as if you are the only one who can solve the problem?  Or are you giving it to God and staying open to how He is directing you through prayer, others and the circumstances? 
  • Are you looking for the love, peace and joy during this time?
  • Are you trusting that step by step God is there?
  • Talk to God about all this. You are on the cross in the suffering that the uncertainty brings.  On this cross, can you see that by your very life you are an unceasing prayer?  Who can you offer the prayer of this part of your life up for?