Tag: prayer

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light and darkness Scripture

No darkness at all

sunrise over mountains

 

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:5, Ignatius Bible

Last Friday’s post, a prayer for eternal life, takes me on a journey from knowing God to loving, trusting, and obeying him.  It starts with knowing because how can I love him if I don’t know him?

I think the apostle John, “the one whom Jesus loved”, is all about helping us know God so we can love him, fellowship with him, abide in him.  In this passage he lays out the basics: God is all light (all flame) – there is not a hint of darkness in him.  He says to us essentially, “Children, if you sense darkness, that isn’t God; you will know him because he is the one who is all light, all good, all truth, all love.”

Grace and peace to us as we learn to know and love our gracious and good God.

dw

p.s. For any who want to look back at other posts on the theme of light and darkness, here is a guide:

 

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Poetry prayer Prayers

A prayer for eternal life

blocks with letters of alphabet

This is a prayer I go to when I feel the need to get back to the basics of being a child of God, of being the light of the world, of becoming all flame. (Yes, I should pray this every day…I really should.)

I hope it is a help and blessing to you.

dw

Continue reading “A prayer for eternal life”
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Review-recap

What did we do?

woman looking at what she has written in her notebook

 

What happened in January?

becomingflame.com went live

On January 1st, becomingflame.com went live with its first post and About page.

scripture

We focused on scriptures that talk about light (as opposed to darkness), beginning with the first ‘word’ of creation in Genesis, moving on to the Word who was with God before creation, who is the light of the world, the life of all people. We talked about the choice between light and darkness. Finally, we talked about being the light of the world ourselves.

prayers

We looked at a few prayers for different situations.

other writings

We looked at writings from Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, and Frederick Buechner that emphasized how the anxiety and concerns of daily life can snuff out our flame, the flicker of our ‘real self’. We were repeatedly encouraged to pay attention in order tend to that flame.

comments

It’s been great to have a conversation with Robert (whose blog I follow and enjoy). Would be great to have others join in 🙂

thank you

Finally, it’s been a joy for me to do this and to know that you take the time to check in.  Grace and peace to all…

dw

Photo by João Silas on Unsplash – cropped to fit theme by dw

 

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prayer

Prayer for when we mess up

woman sitting on bench praying

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:10-12, Ignatius Bible


I mess up.

All the time.

Each time is a temptation to beat myself up. I do this very well from much practice.

Over the last couple of years I’ve tried, instead, to pray this prayer or others like it; I find it better to invoke God’s help to change rather than to just try harder on my own.

King David messed up big time; I mean BIG time (read about it in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12). Psalm 51 records his prayer after being called out on it.

I need these words in my heart and on my tongue; maybe you do, too.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Categories
attention Poetry prayer

Praying – a poem by Mary Oliver

Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

— Mary Oliver, Thirst

I first encountered Mary Oliver and this poem when reading Common Prayer, the book I mentioned in last Friday’s post. I was an immediate convert.

  • Does this poem change your thinking about prayer?  In what ways?
  • Are there things that seem to block you from praying? What are they?
  • How would you like prayer to be for you?
  • Take time to write down your thoughts…and consider reading them aloud to God…in prayer.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
 
Photo by dw

p.s. Notice she’s talking again about paying attention, a growing theme for us (see this, quoted from her book Upstream; see also Wednesday’s post where I emphasize it’s importance in living out our faith.)

Click below to see other posts on the theme of prayer:

Pages on Prayer