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A man visited a deeply spiritual woman known for her piety. He asked, "How can I approach God?" She told him, "Be silent for a moment?" After a short time, she asked the man, "What did you hear?" "Nothing," came the reply. She spoke, "Start from there."
Wherever we are is the most important first step. Keep remembering that at every moment of every day, we are at whatever place we find ourselves. We must reevaluate and reexamine our road. Otherwise, the entire endeavor becomes rote and stale.
*Avram Davis, "Jewish Meditation Today and Its Obstacles"
The spiritual Path is embodied in prayer as a daily walk, beginning anew again and again, with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. This constancy in prayer, then, shapes how we live our whole lives in community.
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We do not pray, principally, to get something, to hear something, or to be something. Prayer is first and foremost responding to Grace opening to us every moment. Therefore, any moment--this moment--is an opening for prayer.
That we do not pray often is refusal to accept that opening right where we are. We can use the excuse of needing a special time or place. We might not pray because we do not feel like it.
Prayer is not about waiting for a special anything: be it feeling, place, or time. Prayer is not about knowing something: like a certain technique whereby we are assured we can approach God effectively (How could one approach God ineffectively, regardless of how she approaches God?). Prayer concerns a relationship available in and through each moment.
The Grace of Christ be with All!
For information on the author, purpose of OneLife ministry, data on the author's book of mystical poetry, and source of quotations in writings, turn to page 2.
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