Light

I was born on winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. The short days of winter aren’t so bad while everyone has their Christmas lights up and evenings are filled with events that warm body and spirit. But when the new year arrives with quiet evenings and cold temperatures, the short days become more difficult to bear.

Monday I noticed the light is beginning to change . The sky was a pastel palette of pink and orange and baby blue all blending into one another as I drove south on 280 at dinner time.

My spirit responded in humble praise:

Thank you for the light returning.

Every week the lightness of my soul,

lifted,

carried,

A little bit longer.

Nighttime Prayers and Repetition

I pray for my kids. 

Some of my sweetest times with Maddie are praying for her at bedtime. 

They go something like this: "Loving Heavenly Father, bless my sweet Madeleine. May she sense the comforting presence of Holy Spirit in her room. May her guardian angels watch over her as she rests, protecting her from harm. And may your loving eyes look down on her from above. Give her peaceful sleep and sweet dreams. In Jesus name, amen." 

The last line in that prayer is something that was prayed over me by my parents when I was young.

One night, I heard Ben pray for her. A phrase stood out to me, "help her make good choices," and I hear it every time he prays for her. 

Jesus talked about prayer, and on one occasion he referenced the meaningless repetition of the gentiles, supposing they would be heard for their many words (Matthew 6:7). 

I imagine this meaningless repetition to look something like a rain dance, or what the prophets of Baal sounded like when they tried to call down fire from heaven. The account in 1 Kings 18 says, "they prayed to Baal from morning until noon, shouting "Baal, answer us!"" 

That is one kind of repetition. And with that kind of repetition, clearly, the Father is not pleased. 

But there is another kind of repetition. A soothing repetition. A holy repetition. A repetition that is rich with meaning and intention and compassion. I love that I can remember the exact words my parents prayed over me. There is a richness to liturgy that I think many modern Christ-followers miss out on (myself included). 

As Maddie grows, she is changing and I realized my prayers over her needed to change too.

I asked God to show me specific passages of scripture to pray over her. Here's where He took me:

Philippians 4:4-8

Psalm 18:35

Psalm 119:32

Galatians 5:13

I was especially captivated by Psalm 18:35 which says, "Your gentleness makes me great." Wow. What a beautiful concept. I've started praying that one over myself, too. 

Out of those passages, I wrote some new prayers that I have been rotating into our nightly routine. Here is how they sound:

"May her heart grow in love for those things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise. May her love for these things bring her great joy, and cause her to have a reputation of kindness." 

"May her gentle spirit be what makes her great."

"May you enlarge her heart so that she would embrace and run in the way of your life-giving words."

"May she choose a position of yieldedness to you and to us, rather than being boastful or challenging."

My hope is that as these prayers are repeated over her at night, they become seed in her soul, sprouting to bring forth the richness of which they speak. 

And may it be the same of all my holy repetitions.

Thin Places

Listening prayer is best accomplished in thin places. 

What is a thin place? In her book “The Happy Intercessor” Beni Johnson describes it as a place where "Heaven and earth are close.” She goes on to name a few geographical locations that she considers thin places including Sedona, AZ and Ashland, OR. 

I know of a few thin places, too. My living room, early in the morning. When I’m showering. When I’m doing the dishes. When I’m putting on my makeup in the morning. 

Thin places are moments where
my soul is still enough to hear from God.

These thin places are not as fancy or fantastical as Sedona or Ashland, but they are places and moments where my soul is still enough to hear from God.

When I was single, I would get up early every morning to read my Bible and journal. It was a wonderful way to start the day. 

Now I have a husband and two children, one of whom is not yet sleeping through the night. It’s harder to get up in the morning. It’s harder to find my thin place. 

But I have noticed a pattern. I seem to have two kinds of consistent thin places. One is a time of day: Morning. The other is an activity: Menial tasks. 

These are the moments where my mind quiets and I can hear the still, small voice of the Spirit. 

The problem is, these moments can literally be 30-seconds. I’ll be doing the dishes and my daughter interrupts me for some help. I’ll be sitting at our quiet dining table and hear my son’s morning cries on the baby monitor. 

If I don’t capture what I am hearing right away, I lose it.  So I have devised a way to capture what I hear in my thin places. I keep small booklets scattered around my house, in my purse, and in my car. When I enter a thin place - even for a moment - these little booklets ensure I can write down what God is saying and return to it later. 

One of my goals for this experiment is to get better at the listening part of prayer. And listening to God is best accomplished in thin places. 

Have you noticed locations, times, or moments where you best hear from God? How do you take advantage of your thin places?

Cries for Help and Questions

Sometimes life moves me down the hierarchy of needs to the most basic essentials and my prayers follow suit. 

On Tuesday night, my son kept me up until 4 am. Yes, he's a cutie. But boy, he can give me a run for my money. The next morning, I had to pack up the entire family’s belongings from a week-and-a-half-long stay in Dallas and get us ready for the airplane. 

My prayers sounded like this:

"Father, help my son sleep."

"Father, help me stay calm."

"Father, help me push through my exhaustion."

And he did. He heard me and he helped me and somehow I was able to overcome my #firstworldproblems. It took effort on my part. But he gave me the grace to walk it out with a good attitude.  

Speaking of problems, there’s big problems and small problems. 

Last night, I found myself thinking about bigger problems. The political atmosphere in America. It’s so bad right now. The rhetoric. The vitriol. I’m embarrassed to be an American.

But God has this amazing way of being able to turnaround even the most dire situations. He has this way of bringing good from bad, healing from pain, joy from hopelessness. 

I have experienced it first-hand in my own life time and time again. 

He is redeemer. 

My prayers turned into questions. 

“Father, how do you plan to redeem the political environment in the US?”

“Father, how can I pray into a future that I cannot yet imagine?”

Cries for help and questions were the theme this week. 

I’m hoping to do more listening in the week to come.

Prayer While Driving

I first prayed this prayer on June 30, 2014 while driving my daughter to her grandparents house. It was a stressful morning and I had lots of work ahead of me. The prayer became a song and I sing it regularly when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

A prayer. A song. 

"Jesus help me, lead the way.

Jesus help me keep the pace.

Jesus help me walk by faith. 

Jesus help me, every day."

Morning Prayer

I composed this simple prayer in October 2015 with the help of Holy Spirit. I had had several days of frustrating interactions with my children and others where I let my hot temper get the best of me. I needed a quick way to connect with my Source and start the day off right. I work from home and this prayer is posted right above my desk.

Good morning Holy Spirit. I welcome your abiding presence.

I invite you to lead me and guide me today.

Help me to think with heaven.

Act out of love.

And be present in my task. 

Make my joy complete and may my joy triumph over every hard thing.

Be the power present in my weakness and help me to be an overcomer. 

Every moment, every hour of this day.

In Jesus name, amen.