- Mother Theresa
I have been learning a lot about prayer and petition over the past month. About the power of prayer; about the importance of leaving everything I have at the foot of the cross...all my fears, insecurities, my need for control over today and tomorrow, my unforgiveness, my frustration, my hopes. And to honestly have faith that God hears my prayers. To honestly know that he loves to talk with me...after all that is essentially what prayer is. It is a conversation with God. It is our way of building a relationship with Him. We are His children; I am His child and He desires nothing more than to breathe life into my soul through times of prayer.
Many of the revelations I have been having has been spoken to me through Mother Theresa's book "No Greater Love." Ty and I are currently reading through it together, and I have been touched immensely by her words in the first chapter. She has such an incredibly eloquent way of talking about prayer that I thought instead of trying to explain what I've read, I would instead share some of the quotes I marked down in my journal.
"Just once let the love of God take entire and absolute possession of your heart; let it become to your heart like second nature; let your heart suffer nothing contrary to enter; let it apply itself to continually increase this love of God by seeking to please Him in all things and refusing Him nothing; let it accept as from His hand everything that happened to it; let it have a firm determination never to commit any fault deliberately and knowingly or, if it should fail, to be humbled and to rise up again at once - and such a heart will pray continually."
Now read it again. Slowly. Take the time to let the words resonate in your heart because what she is saying to do, is by no means an easy task. For me, I think it might take me my entire life before I will be able to really do this...but i promise to try.
She then moves on to speak about the significance of taking the time to be silent in our prayers. For "in silence we will find new energy and true unity...we need silence to be able to touch souls."
Again a huge challenge for me! For as most of you know, I find it hard to be still...plus, I like so much to talk...I even chose a career that allows me to talk all day :) But, that is not an excuse. I KNOW that now I must begin to practice being silent. How else will I be able to hear?
So that brings me to my final thoughts, which will again be the words of Mother Theresa...
"In the silence of the heart God speaks and you have to listen. Then it is in the fullness of your heart, because it is full of God, full of love, full of compassion, full of faith, your mouth will speak and God listens."
- a
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing Lish, I love Mother Theresa, and the Christian mystics in general. I've always been drawn to Catholicism. I love that's it's centered around Christ, the crucifixion and quiet contemplation. We're praying for you guys all the time. Miss you.
s
that was supposde to say, "that it's," not "that's it's." ooops.
s
It's all about "being" and not "doing"...right Lish? It's a hard place to be when you're so used to being on the move. The beauty of those difficult places is that it disciplines us and encourages our growth in our walk with God. May His wonderful truths continue to be revealed to you and as you wait upon the Lord you will rise up on wings like eagles.
Hey! So hard to be silent with God these days! I love your honesty and Gods words spoken through you! thanks! Praying for you both...Ps. i am showing the blog to my students..
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