Praying From the Center

Last Saturday our Evangelization Team had our second neighborhood walk. It was, just as the first, a phenomenal experience. Why? -because standing on someone’s front porch and asking them if there’s anything going on in their life that we might pray for is startling to them. It opens up to an entirely new place in someone’s soul; somehow this person is immediately brought to a place of reverence and speaks to you as if you had known each other intimately. They might tell you about a sick spouse, a friend with Alzheimer’s, a neighbor’s surgery, an alcoholic relative - In other words, they know that this is the time to disclose the darknesses of their lives and to admit their own powerlessness in the face of them. But here’s another revelation: one lady whom I visited last week, a bouncy 40ish blonde, said that no, everything was going just fine in her life and she really didn’t have any prayer requests at this time. I thought about it later and wondered if most people think of prayer in just that way – as ‘assisted living,’ a place to turn when burdens become overwhelming. It certainly is that – but can it be more? I was fortunate enough in my expedience to have learned about prayer as intimacy with God, prayer as learning to see life from God’s perspective, prayer as finding Truth in silence (Richard Rohr): in other words, prayer as union. Praying scripture and centering prayer both lead one in this direction. There are a lot of good resources available for entering into the silent world, among them, Open Mind, Open Heart by Trappist monk Thomas Keating, and Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird. It’s another beautiful way to pray, one that might be explored.

Life Coincidences - Yes or No?

Last week I had invited myself and my husband to our younger son’s house for a Friday night cookout. Brazen – yes – but I really enjoy being with the kids, and my daughter-in-law is so gracious and accommodating. She immediately emailed me back with an enthusiastic YES! and a further invitation to spend the night and they’d set up a movie in the backyard when it got dark. Great! Super! I was pumped. But the next day I got a call from my son. Hmmm…different story. Ohio State had it opener on Saturday and he had tickets and they’d be tailgating and yada yada yada…wouldn’t another weekend work better? OK, sure, no problem. So my husband and I were sitting on our porch, reading at about 10 PM Friday evening when the doorbell rang. It was dark and we couldn’t imagine who it might be at that hour. He went to answer it and called out to me that an old friend was here – someone we had not seen in years. She came in with her young son and we had the nicest visit. As it got later though, I kept wondering what was going on – why she was not making an attempt to leave. After all, her 6-year-old son was already asleep in her lap…and then the sadness began. She related the story of her family’s dysfunction – that after her mom died, they all pretty much went their own way, and one brother “scammed” her out of the money necessary to keep the family home – her home. She was temporarily living in a rental, but needed some quick cash by the following morning in order to save her belongings from being trashed by the owner of a storage unit. We decided that she must have been very desperate to have come to us who hadn’t seen her in so long, and just hours before she would lose everything. Then I began thinking that had we gone to our son’s, we would not have been there when she needed help. People often say that there are no coincidences in life, and I have never known what to think of that statement. I still don’t, but it does now give me pause. I so believe that we’re a family here on the planet, and the opportunity to put that philosophy (and gospel lesson) to work is a gift. Our friend will probably never suspect the gift she gave to my husband and me on a summer Friday night.