What helps you to pray?

I like things around me to make me think and, in turn, to pray. The above photo, and the one bellow, were taken in my study. So, what inspires you? What helps you to imagine and dream of possibilities yet to be? What helps you to pray?

I like to laugh as often as I can. Life really is too short to be grumpy, besides we use less muscles to smile then we do to frown. So sit for a moment, have a cup of tea, and think of the things that make you laugh. They are usually free! Perhaps its as simple as chatting with a friend?

Maybe it's nature that inspires you, maybe it's words, maybe you dream of possibilities when you sleep? I have said before, I am at my most creative late at night, normally before I drift off to sleep. This is also the time I am most relaxed and most receptive to God's voice. Yes, there are other times and in my quest to seek God's face I have found solace in quiet days (retreats from the outside world), and alone pottering in the garden, and just recently in the middle of the swimming pool where I felt God's still small voice says to me, 'I'm here.' God is all around us. It's a question of us connecting with him. So how do we do it? 

As I reflect on my sign that says 'sit long, talk much, laugh often' I wonder can I apply this to my prayer life? Have you tried pouring your heart out to God recently? Try it. Go on give it a go... Shout at him. Scream at him. Tell him how you feel. Jump up and down. Cry, laugh, but be honest, honest with your emotions. There is nothing like a heart wrenching prayer. God hears the cry of our heart. He is there, talk to him, he's waiting for that long chat and for you to tell him how you feel. And then listen... wait for him to respond. Feel his peace, the peace that passes all understanding.

 

Luke 12:22-31 NRSV

²² He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶ If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰ For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.