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Wisdom Story
A Jewish story tells of a cobbler who visited Rabbi Isaac of Ger and said, "Tell me what to do about my morning prayer. My customers are poor men who have only one pair of shoes. I pick up their shoes late in the evening and work on them most of the night; at dawn there is still work to be done if the men are to have their shoes before they go to work. My question is: What should I do about my morning prayer?"
"What have you been doing?" asked the Rabbi.
"Sometimes, I rush through the prayer quickly and get back to my work, but, then, I feel bad about it. At other times, I let the hour of prayer go by. Then, I feel a sense of loss and every now and then, as I raise my hammer from the shoes, I can almost hear my heart sigh, 'What an unlucky man I am, that I am not able to make my morning prayer.'"
Said the Rabbi, "If I were God, I would value that sigh more than the prayer."
Likely, much that passes through the mind and lips and is called prayer bears little, if any semblance, to true prayer. Likely, on the other hand, many of our most important prayers have never passed through either the mind or lips, and, likely, they were never known by us or anyone as prayer.
Spiritual Exercise
(1) Complete the following ...
Prayer, to me, is essentially ...
(2) Do you agree with the saying of today on prayer from Augustine Baker? Explain.
(3) Breath Prayer
Breathing in: Lord Jesus
Breathing out: Come
Brian will respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Mentor. He offers retreats, workshops, and classes in such subjects as Contemplative Prayer (he trains in Visualized Praying, Centering Prayer, Christian Meditation, The Jesus Prayer, ...); Contemplative Living; A Spiritual Understanding of the Lord's Prayer; Philippians and Spiritual Community; Spiritual Growth From Matter to Spirit; Spiritual Use of the Scripture.
See any major on-line bookseller for his book An Ache for Union.
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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