“I love to use Your Name as a whispered prayer, a praise, a protection; and it never loses its power.”
– Jesus Listens
“The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw—and knew I saw—all things in God and God in all things.”
—Mechthild of Magdeburg
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
—Mark 11:24 (NIV)
Personal Fear
On a summer trip to Jackson Hole, I conquered a personal fear. The trip was jam-packed with activities. We hiked, fished, floated the Snake River, roasted marshmallows, and took the tram to the top of the ski mountain for waffles. It was a blast, until our trip to the Aerial Ropes Course.
Everyone knows Mom isn’t a fan of heights. I panicked when the outfitter said both parents would need to be eighty feet in the air to chaperone our four kids. This particular ropes course is billed as “challenging” and requires a twenty-minute training session to even get the green light to make the climb up!
All was going surprisingly well as I was following my then seven-year-old daughter Rose up the intermediate course, moving through until we finally reached the top platform. It never crossed my mind to ask how we would get down. Before I knew it, a college-age kid was hooking me into a silver line and instructing me to carefully step up to the pair of black-sticker footprints at the edge of the platform, eighty feet up. “Excuse me? I’m not going off this.” With a chuckle, he said, “It’s the only way, lady. Everyone has to take the leap.”
Encouragement
It was embarrassing how long I stood frozen on those two footprints. Finally, with some encouragement from the ground below, I stepped out into the air, hollering for all the Tetons to hear me. To my great surprise, the rope caught my free fall, and I glided gracefully the remaining fifty feet down to safety.
Authentic prayer requires a leap. There is no other way.
Vulnerability and speaking our raw truths are the first lessons on how to pray. After all, prayer is the language of our souls. Some nights, I simply and quietly kneel beside my bed. During my son’s cancer treatment, I daily lit a candle in the chapel next to the hospital. When I struggle for words, the Psalms become my prayers. Silence in the woods becomes a tender prayer. I tearfully cry out to heaven, “Help me!”
Close the distance
Some days I forget to pray, and then on others, I find myself whispering prayers with every breath. The prayer I whisper the most is: “Dear God, Where am I? Where are you? Please close the distance.”
Formal, polite prayers are insufficient and fool no one, especially God. My experience with prayer is that God meets us where we are. And there is never judgment or crazy expectations. Most of us are doing our very best to find our way with a measure of grace, and God knows it.
There is no perfect prayer or pray-er. I used to feel guilty about the lack of discipline in my prayer life until I expanded what prayer is for me. What if the way I live my life could be a prayer? What if lighting a candle in a chapel, cooking a meal for a friend in need, enjoying a belly laugh with my six-year-old, doing yoga in the yard, singing a poor rendition of “Amazing Grace” at bedtime to my son, are all prayers? Suddenly, my daily life becomes a sacred liturgy, the ordinary ministrations become living prayers. Life is experienced as a little more sacred.
Creator of me
Creator of me,
Help me rediscover the place of holiness inside me.
Help me to see that in every breath something
sacred is at stake.
With courage, I will walk forward,
knowing without knowing,
toward You, with You,
and for You.
A holiest Amen.
One-Word Prayer
I appreciate the simplicity of the one-word prayer, especially when I feel like a spinning top.
Try this introductory practice to centering prayer:
1. Take a comfortable seated position. Lay your palms face up on your thighs. Close your eyes. Direct your mind to silence. Relinquish expectations, self-doubt, and that laundry list of to-dos and worries.
2. Choose a particular word or phrase that soothes or reflects your secret longing in the present moment. Words that I use are hope, be still, beloved, calm, and peace.
3. Repeat your sacred “code word” in between slow, measured inhales and exhales. Expect that other unwanted thoughts will enter your mind and distract you. Imagine these interruptions as weather and just let them pass by. Keep returning to your centering word. Focusing on the word allows your mind and body to relax so you can slip into an envelope of peace.
4. Close your session with this affirmation: “I am loved. I am enough.”
About The Author
Farrell Mason is a mother of six children, a spiritual blogger, writer, and host of Soulful 7 Conversations podcast. She is the author of two works of fiction, Alma Gloria and the Olive Tree and The Angel and the Raven, and a collection of prayers, The Pocket Cathedral. Farrell holds a master of art and business from The University of Manchester, England, and a master of divinity with a concentration in theology and the arts from Vanderbilt University. She is a part-time ordained minister of pastoral care at Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville and her heart is forever committed to raising funds and awareness for kids with cancer in honor of her son. In all of her writing you will find a thread of hope, healing, and redemption!
