A PRAYER from ST. PAUL'S LETTER to THE COLOSSIANS


I often find prayers in the Psalms that become my prayers, but yesterday I found one in St. Paul's letter to the Colossians that I thought was so beautiful and so perfect I wanted to share it.


Heavenly Father, please give me a complete understanding of what you want to do in my life. Make me wise with spiritual wisdom so that the way I live will always honor and please you, and that I will continually do good, kind things for others. Help me, all the while, to learn to know you better and better.


I pray also that I will be strengthened with your glorious power so that I will have all the patience and endurance I need.


May I always be filled with your joy, always thanking you, who have enabled me to share the inheritance that belongs to your holy people who live in the light. Thank you for rescuing me from the one who rules the kingdom of darkness and for bringing me into your kingdom. Thank you for purchasing my freedom with your blood and for forgiving all my sins. Amen.


Adapted from Colossians 1: 9-14 ( New Living Translation)

TRUE PRAYER

Too often my prayers become a series of distracting thoughts, ending up going around in my own little treadmill of repetition. A prayer book introduces other things, ideas, and people to pray for and about, brings higher thoughts to my weary mind, broadens my misty horizons, and lifts my spirit above my petty burdens.

But sometimes when I try to pray, my eyes skim over the familiar words. For years I have felt guilty and tried to go back and reread (re-pray?) with limited success. And in church I couldn't do that anyway.

Last week it came to me that it didn't matter. God knows what the words are. They are more to remind me than to remind Him! And if there is something I really need to see and have sink in, He always draws my wandering attention to it, so that often I find something new I would swear I never saw or read before!

The important thing about my prayer time isn't so much the words I say or don't say, but to simply be quiet in His presence, drawing His strength and peace into my heart and mind and spirit. And if "reading" familiar prayers keeps my mind on Him, even if the meaning of the words isn't penetrating, that's the important thing.

Prayer is perhaps as much focusing on God as it is petition, thanksgiving, praise, or intercession.

HELPING OTHERS
Before we can help others, we first have to SEE the need. If my neighbor falls in his house, I can't know he needs help. We would know nothing about Haiti's earthquake if the media didn't show us.

Secondly, we have to UNDERSTAND the need. If my neighbor manages to hobble out of his house and stands by the road waving his hand, I may think he's just saying hello. An earthquake is obvious, but the problems caused by desertification in Africa or deforestation in South America may not be.

Thirdly, we have to KNOW what to do and BE ABLE to do it. I can call 911 for my neighbor, but how to help people in the Philippines threatened by a volcano may be beyond my ability to do more than pray for them.

But if we CAN do something, it becomes our human responsibility to DO it whether it is for our neighbor or someone halfway across the planet.

IN THE SILENCE
"Amen" is not "good-bye."
I used to be reluctant to leave a church service or to get up from praying, feeling that I was losing that wonderful connection with God. Sometimes I even avoided saying,"Amen," even though I knew it was from the Hebrew and means something like "so be it," a traditional ending for prayer and an affirmation or ratification of a statement or a plea. This morning when I finished praying in my quiet time, I suddenly understood that because God's presence never leaves me, "Amen" is not "good-bye." I may from time to time forget about Him, but fortunately He does not forget me. "Amen" is not "good-bye."

IN THE SILENCE

"God bless you!" we say if someone sneezes or if they are going through hard times, and even more especially when they have done something wonderful for us--something mere "thank you" won’t begin to cover.

"Bless the Lord," the Psalms command us. And God has done more for us than any of us could imagine. But how can we say "God bless you" to God? Can we bless God? How could we? Can the lesser ever bless the greater?

Perhaps by praise. "Praise You, Lord. I thank You and praise You." How else? How does a field of flowers bless me? By being their own beautiful selves. By being the thing they were meant to be and doing their best. Well? What am I waiting for?

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Jan. 28, 1995.}

IN THE SILENCE

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the elder brother is in a snit because his father has killed the fatted calf and held a party for his worthless brother, who has just returned home, while the elder has stayed home and been obedient and faithful. The father says to him, "You have been with me all the time, and everything I have is yours." But the elder brother never asked for anything. He never asked! "Ask, that you may receive."

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Jan. 21, 1999.}

ICE CRYSTALS

"AN AMERICAN GRACE"

Bless, O Lord, those who patrol
our streets and seas and skies
that we may dwell in safety.
And bless those who work our fields
and tend our flocks and herds
that we may eat when we are hungry.
And bless us, Lord, that we may come
to love and serve Thee better. Amen.

{A poem - prayer published in Easy Herb Cooking for Busy People, by D.C. Ice. Burlingham, N.Y., Contentment Cottage, 1996.}

IN THE SILENCE

"Connect." I have been drifting away from You, God. I need to drift back or paddle back or just let You draw me back. That’s nice. I need to connect with You. I can reach You through Your Word, but sometimes Your Word gets in the way. And through prayers, but sometimes they get in the way. And through my mind, but sometimes my mind gets in the way. I just need You, need to connect with You. That’s all I need.

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Nov. 26, 1987.}

IN THE SILENCE

Too often, Lord, I forget that prayer, like conversation, is supposed to be a two-way street, and so I prayed this morning:

"‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.’ You have said, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Help me to be still and listen. . . ."

And this was the answer I received, not in audible words, but in thoughts that came quickly to me:

"Offer your day’s planned activities one-by-one for guidance or inspiration or warning. Doing this is not a distraction, but a leading. Be still. The Old Testament has great value; read the lessons. Their worth may not be immediately apparent to you. I have shown you this before. Keep silence. Saul disobeyed. Rebellion is akin to witchcraft; stubbornness is akin to iniquity and idolatry. Saul tried to go beyond God’s command. He was more afraid of his people than of God. He made excuses to justify doing things his way. Keep track of what is revealed to you so you may remember and see your progress in spiritual learning and growth."

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Nov. 12, 1991.}

IN THE SILENCE

Lord, I know they say to pray a Psalm when your heart is too full and you can’t find your own words, but I never can find a "good" one when I need it. This time I did. Psalm 56.

"Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. Put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

"In God I will praise His word. In God will I praise His word, in the Lord will I praise His word."

"What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." When I am in thee I am safe. Being "in God" is akin to the New Testament’s "in Christ," as E. Stanley Jones writes in In Christ.

Deuteronomy 10:12 says, "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?"

"Walk before God in the light of the living."

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Nov. 5, 1997}

IN THE SILENCE

This evening I came home from work and prayed. And the peace of God came down upon me. Not a fragile thing, but tough--"God will not be denied." But so much love and comfort, so much. I am not worthy--we never are. Just "Thank you, thank you. I feel the love."

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Oct. 22, 1986}

IN THE SILENCE

Sometimes, Lord, you know, I let go of your hand and turn my back on you and sit down by the side of the pathway. You know that I do this. You know.

And always you sigh and stop and sit down beside me, whether I know it or not, whether I acknowledge it or not. And I know, deep down, that you are there, that I must go on, even though I say I won’t go any farther, and refuse all comfort.

But deep down, I know I will go, because I must, and I know that you know, and you know that I know you know, but you don’t ever say it, except in my heart.

And what I really want is for you to love me and to stay with me, when all the time it is I who is withholding the love and refusing to go on with you.

Forgive me. Thank you for putting up with me, with my tantrums. Thank you for your patience and love and compassion and most of all for staying with me through it all.

{From A Journal of the Spirit, a Journey of the Soul, by D.C. Ice, Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 1987}