Every Action Is Prayer

            Beginning this January as part of my almost daily spiritual practice I read a page in Pocketful of Miracles by Joan Borysenko.  A few days ago the daily meditation included the sentence:  “Consider every action a prayer.”   It was one of those sentences that made a chime of truth ring in my heart.

            Over the last several years my understanding of prayer has changed a lot.  Prayer is much broader and more varied than words spoken in corporate worship or private prayer.  Prayer is more free flowing than extemporaneous words spoken or thought.  These actions are prayer, but so are many, many others as long as they are done mindful of God’s presence.  If I prepare a meal and do so as if God is with me in the kitchen, that is prayer.  If I take a walk along the beach, and do so aware that God is at my side that is prayer.  If I sing to my granddaughter, and imagine God’s arms around her along with mine, that is prayer.  If I drive to do my errands, and send a thought of blessing to the other drivers, that is prayer. 

            To do this I try to make my mind run on two tracks at the same time.  One track is focusing on the activity and the other is staying aware of God’s presence.  When I am able to be aware of God’s presence while I am doing other things God and I are closely connected.  We are in communication even though I am not thinking or saying words.  And every action becomes prayer. 

All Things New

Alleluia! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Mine was wonderfully blessed in so many ways - from all the services during Holy Week - including Easter Vigil, my very favorite - through the Sunday Morning Festival Eucharist. And then, added to that, a fun afternoon with my family. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, however you celebrated it. And for those who were celebrating Passover at about the same time, I hope it was a blessed holiday for you, also.

I had some "aha" moments this week that I would like to share. On Sunday, our rector preached a powerful sermon about the meaning of Easter - about how we enter into a "new life" as a result of Jesus' resurrection - and what that really means. (Not that I haven't heard this before, but somehow I heard it in a new way.) He was trying to get across to us that this "new life" if we choose to embrace it, is all about getting to a much deeper relationship with God than we could ever imagine. He used as a concrete example, the difference for the Buddhists between "reincarnation" and "enlightenment." Said another way, it's the difference between focusing on repeating our sufferings versus being fully open to the presence of God within us and in our lives and the healing and blessing that comes to us as a result of living so deeply in God's presence. AND the difference it makes to all the people with whom we come in contact. It's not that we don't experience the ups and downs of life, challenges and sufferings even, but what's different is that depth-of-the-soul experiencing God with us, no matter what. To me, it's what Jesus meant by"eternal life." To me, it's prayer lived.

My other "aha" moment came from watching a video that's currently making the rounds. I think it shows, in a very powerful way with very few words, how turning in a different direction, no matter how slightly the turn seems in the moment can make all the difference. In this video, it's a situation where changing how you say something can make all the difference. For me. it also illustrates that "new life" that Easter represents. Here's the link if any of you are interested in checking it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU .

Creation in Bloom

Yesterday was my first day back to my painting group for six months - since before my two stem cell transplants. Part of the joy of being in that group is the drive to and from Rockport. Route 128 is lined with trees on that route and every single time, the trees look different, depending on the season. Yesterday, I could just catch a hint of green budding on the branches - a sure sign that REAL spring is coming, not these teasers we've been having. Joy and exhilaration filled me - and those words are not too strong for how I felt, almost overcome by the dependability of creation, renewing itself every spring. I decided to take the long way home and, as I meandered through Lanesville and Annisquam, I had the same feelings of joy and exhilaration, gazing at the dogwoods in full bloom and the yellow forsythia bursting with life. For me, just allowing myself to experience that overwhelming beauty brings me into God's presence and is one of the deepest forms of my prayer life. I keep forgetting my camera. Maybe next week I'll remember. I want to try to capture some of the beauty for future painting inspiration - and for a tangible reminder of the eternal renewal of life in creation.

Made Holy by Prayer

Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy

Last fall my husband and I were in Italy for almost three weeks. We had leisurely three course meals and drank some very good Italian wine.  We visited several museums and many churches filled with frescos, paintings, mosaics, and sculptures.  Often when we entered a church there would be many others who had come just to see the art.  But many times I was moved by how many people were clearly there to pray.  They would be kneeling in front of a bank of lighted votive candles, or sitting in one of the pews in front of a painting, or looking at a statue of the Virgin or a saint.  They had come into this place made holy by hundreds of years of intercession and thanksgiving to add their own prayers.  Seeing those people engaged in strengthening their connection with God made me stop briefly and add my own silent prayers of intercession for my loved ones whom I missed and prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of safe and rewarding travel.

Early Morning Thankfulness

For the past several days I’ve been helping take care of my granddaughter who is seven weeks old today!  I have fed her and played with her for a couple of hours and now she is asleep in her swing.  She is the realization of many hopes and dreams.  This morning about 6:15 AM I came downstairs to start the coffee.  I took a look out the slider to the deck and noticed a bright red spot in the top of one of the bare trees in the next yard.  I looked more carefully and realized that the red spot was a male cardinal soaking up the newly risen sun.  In a few more weeks when the trees have burst out with leaves I would never have been able to see the cardinal.  I gave a prayer of thanksgiving for the many gifts in my life—this morning’s gift of seeing the cardinal and especially for the gift of my granddaughter.

Just Beginning

It's Wednesday evening and I'm setting up this blog that I hope will become a place people can share ways in which they pray.  I believe that the ways of prayer are as infinite as the ways in which the Divine loves the Creation.  Praying can be sitting still and listening to the birds sing in the trees, watching the sun rise, holding a new grandchild, or joining in worship with a faith community.  In what ways do you come closer to being in the presence of God?