Often for me to make sense of my spiritual direction, I must bring it down to a very elemental level. My experience in Gardening parallels my walk in so many ways. Here are some insights I have gained:
* I learned many of my gardening skills from an old Japanese gardener who never told me how but showed me how. In fact, to him, the fewer words the better. Others who have taught me valuable lessons in faith showed me avenues of grace and truth by demonstrating it by their lifestyle and with few words if any. The old saying is true: "Faith is caught, not taught." It is the Spirit working with and through those who show one how to live. That is a key way of how belief gets fleshed out, defined and something then which makes sense to the follower.
* Most plants grow properly by so many factors: good soil, right sun exposure, better to water deep and less frequently, keep weeds pulled and prune properly (right time/right cut). Okay, this one parallel will take some time to unpack. So I will unload my thoughts in entries to come.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Liturgical Prayer for Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thanks to Nate Worden for leading Sunday morning Prayer last week using a reading from Soren Kierkegaard as a liturgical outline. May we come into His Presence!
Reading: I Kings 3:5-12
Father in Heaven!
What is humanity without Thee!
What is all we know, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if we do not know Thee!
What is all our striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if we do not know
Thee!
Reading: Psalm 105:1-5
Thee the One, who is One and who is All!
Reading: Matthew 13:44-46
So may You give to the intellect wisdom to comprehend that one thing;
to the heart sincerity to receive this understanding;
to the will purity that wills only one thing;
May You grant in prosperity perseverance to will one thing;
amid distraction, collectedness to will one thing;
in suffering, patience to will one thing.
Oh, You that gives both the beginning and the completion,
may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young person the resolution to will one thing.
As the day wanes, may You give to the old person a renewed remembrance of their first resolution,
that the first may be like the last, the last like the first,
in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.
Reading: Psalm 119:129-136
Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass.
Something has come in between.
The separation of sin lies in between.
Each day, and day after day, something is being placed in between:
Delay
Blockage
Interruption
Delusion
Corruption.
So in this time of repentance may You give the courage once again to will one thing.
Silence/Reflection
Oh, You that gives both the beginning and the completion, give victory in the day of need so that
What neither our burning wish nor our determined will may attain to
May be granted unto us in the sorrowing of repentance:
To will one thing.
Reading: Romans 8:26-39
* Prayer adapted from the opening paragraph of Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing by Soren Kierkegaard.
Reading: I Kings 3:5-12
Father in Heaven!
What is humanity without Thee!
What is all we know, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if we do not know Thee!
What is all our striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if we do not know
Thee!
Reading: Psalm 105:1-5
Thee the One, who is One and who is All!
Reading: Matthew 13:44-46
So may You give to the intellect wisdom to comprehend that one thing;
to the heart sincerity to receive this understanding;
to the will purity that wills only one thing;
May You grant in prosperity perseverance to will one thing;
amid distraction, collectedness to will one thing;
in suffering, patience to will one thing.
Oh, You that gives both the beginning and the completion,
may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young person the resolution to will one thing.
As the day wanes, may You give to the old person a renewed remembrance of their first resolution,
that the first may be like the last, the last like the first,
in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.
Reading: Psalm 119:129-136
Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass.
Something has come in between.
The separation of sin lies in between.
Each day, and day after day, something is being placed in between:
Delay
Blockage
Interruption
Delusion
Corruption.
So in this time of repentance may You give the courage once again to will one thing.
Silence/Reflection
Oh, You that gives both the beginning and the completion, give victory in the day of need so that
What neither our burning wish nor our determined will may attain to
May be granted unto us in the sorrowing of repentance:
To will one thing.
Reading: Romans 8:26-39
* Prayer adapted from the opening paragraph of Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing by Soren Kierkegaard.
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