Prayer Disciplines Part 2

During the last couple of years my prayer life has become less and less organized.  Oh, I still pray.  I often pray while driving.  If I wake up during the night, or very early, I pray.  I pray before falling asleep.  Thoughts of God constantly linger around the edges of my mind.  I may actually pray more that I did during my sporadic attempts at “discipline.”  I’ve come to think, as Frank Laubach once said:

“All thought can be conversations with thee (God).”

At any rate, I’ve decided to give up or give in to God’s grace and pray the way I am.

Just this week, I discovered a prayer discipline I never recognized in myself as I read “Creating a Life with God” by Daniel Wolpert. Along with many of the prayer exercises I learned in my Spiritual Direction course such as centering prayer, the Jesus prayer, lectio divina, the examen and journaling, he mentions creativity as prayer, saying:

“Since prayer connects us to God, creativity–as it connects us to the creative power of God–becomes a prayer practice.”

Throughout my faith life, periods of personal creativity have been times when I especially feel God’s presence and His pleasure with me.  One of the first times this happened was after a class on spiritual gifts led me to write a Vacation Bible School program for our church.  At the time, and for several years afterwards, our house would be littered with library books, craft ideas, Sunday School material and anything else I could find that related to the VBS theme for the year.  Several of the people who assisted me with preparing those programs mention them as times of special fun and meaning despite all the hard work that went into them.  It became a time of consuming passion for the project and for God while it lasted.  Since that time I have had the same experience in creating and leading workshops for my church and other Christian groups, writing talks for retreats, newsletter articles and even letters of encouragement or sympathy to friends.  I often sense God working through me to touch others in these ways, and when one project ends, my heart is restless until another presents itself.  How delightful to think of this as prayer!  And how delightful to realize that God can use me with all my restless and unruly thoughts!

This was written years ago.  For more current information of my prayer life see these posts:

Fanning the Flame #8 — Prayer Vision

Fanning the Flame #8 Continued … How should I pray?

 

 

 

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson — Book Review

Great read!  If you are a writer, composer, poet or musician, you’ll want to read this book by Andrew Peterson on the creative life (and by the way, since we are made in God’s image, we are all creative).

Much of what Peterson has to say resonates with me as a writer and a Christian.  He is a man after my own heart.  For example:

“One great problem with much art that’s called ‘Christian’ is agenda, which is to say that it’s either didactic or manipulative, or merely pragmatic–in other words the artistic purity of the work tends to take a back seat to the artist’s agenda.

He goes on to say, “God is going to speak through the arts no matter who’s making it.” He “decided early on that I would rather my children listen to a great song by someone who wasn’t a Christian than a bad song by someone who was.”  We need to develop “healthy snobbery about the art … (we) consume.”  This is discernment, and requires that instead of settling for being entertained, we need to “read the nutritional facts on the back of the box.”

He gives suggestions to budding writers, including the need for discipline.  For example:

“The best thing you can do to write your book is to stop not doing it.”

Too often, we put off the hard work of writing or composing, while we wait for inspiration to strike.  This doesn’t always happen.  It’s also important, especially in the beginning to

“… make something, even if it’s not great. … The only way to get better at something is to practice.”

Christian artists also need community:

“They look you in the eye and remind you who you are in Christ.  They reiterate your calling when you forget what it is.  They step into the garden and help you weed it, help you grow something beautiful.”

I could go on and on, but  I won’t.  Just get this book and see for yourself.  Here’s the link:

Adorning the Dark

You can also learn more about Andrew Peterson by going to this website:

Home

The Lutheran Ladies received a free copy of this book in return for an honest and fair review – Disclaimer pursuant to FTC 16 CFR Part 255

 

 

Created to be Creative

The Bible tells us in the Book of Genesis:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them.”

Since God is the Creator, doesn’t it make sense that humankind, the children He made in His image, would also be creative?  God gave us “dominion” over the world and blessed us with the instructions that we should “be fruitful and multiply.”  This reminds me of the parable of the talents …. the master trusts his servants to be good stewards of what they have been given.  I guess we could take these words superficially and say, well, we’re supposed to populate the earth and work diligently to receive a good return for our labor, but I think God meant for us to go beyond that.

God blessed each one of us with a unique personality and abilities.  Some of us will be artists, writers and craftsmen, but creativity doesn’t stop there.  We can all imagine creative ways to do what we love to do.  There are creative parents, teachers, business owners and cooks.  There are people who get creative about ways to be generous, ways to relate to different cultures, ways to invent useful gadgets.  I think people feel most completely fulfilled when they’re getting creative about the things they find fascinating and enjoyable;  the things God created them to do, to understand or to learn about.

What gets your creative juices going?  What are the talents God gifted you with?  Are you spending your time on them?  If not, why not?  Start now.

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy in proportion to our faith;  if service, in our serving;  the one who teaches, in his teaching;  the one who exhorts, in exhortation;  the one who contributes, in generosity;  the one who leads, with zeal;  the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”  Romans 8:6-8

 

 

 

Free Time

When I worked for the school district, they had a weekly column in which employees were interviewed. It was kind of a “get to know you” segment where each employee shared some information about their personal life, such as who was in their family and what their hobbies and interests were. Well, eventually it became time to do my column. What I wrote was that I enjoy gardening and cooking and spending time with friends and family. That seemed better than admitting the truth. What I really did for a hobby was come home exhausted from work and lay on the couch watching Netflix until I fell asleep.

Does anyone else struggle to find creativity in their life? Sometimes it seems like we get so caught up in the daily activities of chores, work, and errands that there does not seem like time for anything else. Any free time seems better spent catching up on rest and vegetating in front of the television. However, while those activities might be needed sometimes to rejuvenate ourselves, they are used far more than is needed.

First Timothy 4:14-15 “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.  Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”

My goal for this month is to make better use of my free time. I am not exactly sure what gifts I have, but it seems worthwhile to reflect on what they are and how I can better use them. Does anyone have any feedback on how they have found their gifts and what they are doing with them? I am open to suggestions!!