The Rhythm of the Offices

I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but God has brought me back to this place. It is amazing how an "ending" place comes back to the beginning...

I like the idea of praying the offices. As Phylllis Tickle says, "The offices open to me four times a day and call me to remember Who owns time and why. All that means really is that four times a day the Watchmaker and I have conversation about the clock and my place as a nano-second in it."

The offices create a rhythm for me, a place where I am not driven by the clock and daily life, but by God's story. But they also pose a challenge. I find it, quite frankly, hard to STOP whatever it is that I am doing.

So I am a learner...maybe a wanderer... in this land of prayer. I usually pray the morning office and frequently the evening office too. Beyond that, I try...I forget...I let time run my life...I make excuses. But I want to learn to live by the rhythm of the offices, so I don't give up.

(I really like the daily offices at www.northumbriacommunity.org)

Silence and Stillness

I am lead more and more to believe that Silence and doing nothing is the place to begin to learn to pray. It is the place of "be still and know that I am God".

I am trying to quiet my environment and quiet my thoughts and come before God in a waiting position. Lord, teach me to do nothing....

Sting

"Is it not, for all its sting, a wonderful way to live?...To dream and want and pray almost savagely; then to commit and wait and see Him quietly pile all dreams aside and replace them with what we could not dream - the realized will?
-Jim Elliot

I first read this quote as a very new Christian when I was 15 and loved it instantly. I dreamed, I wanted, I prayed almost savagely, but really didn't understand the second part of this quote...until a few weeks ago.

As we are packing up our house to move to a brand new state, start a brand new team, doing brand new jobs, raising our support, trying to provide some sort of stability for kids, and staying married to each other...I have been wanting, dreaming and praying almost savagely once more. But one thing is different from when I was 15...I have given up the illusion that I am in control or that I can "make it happen". And so I finally understand the second part of this quote.

I get to take all my wants, dreams and prayers (of which there are A LOT!) and give them to Him. Then I get to watch Him pile them all aside and give me HIS wants, dreams and prayers. And those are that which I could not have dreamed (because they involve death before He brings about resurrection!)