Merton: Prayer as Distraction

Merton: Prayer as Distraction

“If my prayer is centered in myself, if it seeks only an enrichment of my own self, my prayer itself will be my greatest potential distraction..” Thomas Merton,  Thoughts in Solitude

Pilot and Co-pilot

Thomas Merton reminds us what our prayer life and the rest of our life as well becomes when our prayer life is centered on ourselves, our own desires, our own needs, our own knowledge. Merton calls this kind of life a distraction, something that keeps us from the truth, a diversion, a disturbance of the mind, a hindrance. We think we are doing everything right, but in essence we are back where we started with our world centered on ourselves rather than God.

We may think that God is our co-pilot, but we are the pilot. We have such good ideas. God is there to make certain that our ideas, our prayers are answered. I only have to think about all the prayers that I prayed for that were not answered that later I learned would have been disastrous, the boyfriends who never gave me the time of day that I would have sold my soul for. I also well remember the prayers that were answered that became harmful, the jobs I thought I had to have, the co-workers I just knew would be perfect.

As friends in recovery say, “our best thinking got us here.”

When we do not say to God, "thy will be done," it seems his answer to us may sometimes be, "your will be done."

Merton is calling us to the prayer of surrender, turning our prayers as well as our life and our wills over to God, “thy will be done.”

This kind of prayer and prayer life also calls for acceptance, forgiveness,  gratitude, and most of all love, knowing that we are loved and offering in turn that love.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Finley: contemplative exercise

Contemplative exercise Finley

“Sit in meditation for about twenty to thirty minutes.

Slowly stand.

Walk in a slow mindful manner to the kitchen sink full of dirty dishes. Stand at the sink, mindfully gazing for a moment at the dishes.

 Slowly and mindfully put soap in the sink.

 Fill the sink with hot water, attentive to the simple givenness of the sound of running water.

Wash, rinse, and place each item in the drainer with mindfulness.

When the dishes are finished, pull the plug,

 listen to and watch the water going down the drain.

Rinse out the sink with mindfulness.

Dry each item and put it in its proper place with natural and deliberate mindfulness.

Wipe off the counter tops with mindfulness.

Slowly walk back to your place of sitting meditation

 sit for another twenty to twenty-five minutes.

Open a journal and  write spontaneously and sincerely about what it would be like to live in this way.”

From Richard Rohr’s daily meditations, August 5, 2017Adapted from James Finley, The Contemplative Heart , Sorin Books: 2000, 46, 125-126.

James Finley writes about how meditation and performing daily tasks might be integrated. This is a mindful life. Finley offers us one more way to put ourselves in position to connect to God, especially if you have difficulty just sitting and meditating. He suggests starting small, with small tasks, moving boxes, filing papers, picking up the mail, taking out the garbage.  Do it for just a few minutes a day. Try it today. I’ll be experimenting with you.

Joanna         joannaseibert.com

Anders:Spinning Wisdom 2

Anders: Spinning Wisdom 2

“The threads of our lives lead both ways—vertically toward our Source, and horizontally toward each other.”  —Isabel Anders in Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold, her sequel to Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom (Wipf & Stock, 2010).

1. The Daughter loved the Spinning Room, where the rough, carded wool was transformed into shimmering, useful thread.

“See,” she said one morning to her Mother, pointing to the results of her effort, “our spinning teaches the wool to connect!”

“Yes,” acknowledged her mother, “and it is our most basic lesson in life, as well, to learn how to Connect.”

***

2. “I want to be present at that moment of transformation,” said the Daughter, “when the airy fibers and strands of my hopes and dreams become material substance in the real world.”

“By your words expressed—through the power of your desire—you have just made an instance of that very thing happen,” said her Mother.

**

22. “The threads of our lives lead both ways—vertically toward our Source, and horizontally toward each other,” the Daughter reflected, holding out her handiwork as an example.

“And the template of the Warp and Woof of life will guide you at every stage,” her Mother promised. “Its applications will become myriad as you grow further into maturity. See in them the Cross, for it is the vortex of life.”

         —Guest post by Isabel Anders from Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold: A Tapestry of Mother-Daughter Wisdom (London: Circle Books, 2012).

Joanna joannaseibert.com