Get In Touch With IT...

There is an IT factor in life.
IT is the inner connection each of us at one time or another senses...a connection of self with others and with That-Which-Is-Greater-Than-All-Else.

And...that leaves every one of us to speculate on just how we might get in touch with IT.

A couple of quotes before I offer my thoughts...

“There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you know how you respond to it.”   
-Isaac Marion


"There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long.
'I feel that this is right for me.
I know that this is wrong.'
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you –just listen to
The voice that speaks inside."    -Shel Silverstein

There is an IT factor in life.
IT is the inner connection each of us at one time or another senses...a connection of self with others and with That-Which-Is-Greater-Than-All-Else.

And...that leaves every one of us to speculate on just how we might get in touch with IT.
Here are my speculations...

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you dream great and good dreams.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you are open to imagining the best that life can become.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you accept that life-well-lived is beyond all measure of clocks and calendars.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you begin to sense that there really is something that holds all things in place…and holds all people in amazing grace.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you experience that there is just a hint of peace that surrounds you in stillness; a hint of peace that surrounds you…always.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you catch just the fleeting sound of the harmony in the universe; a sound so right-on-key…so pure…so true.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you are in touch with the love that is within you; love you have received from others; love that is the very essence of each and all of us.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you sense a yearning for a place you have not yet found; that calls you toward a destination you know is home.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you awaken to the truth that life is not about pie-in-the-sky-in-the-sweet-by-and-by, 
but is about the right-here-and-right-now

.

Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you decide to never be the one to cast the first stone…or any stone, really; 
instead you decide to be an agent of wholeness and wellness, help and healing

.



Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you begin to pursue of The Truth, the Whole Truth, The Truth that will set you free; 
free from all the lies and half-truths that have held you back 
and held you captive for too many years…and too many tears.



Perhaps you get in touch with IT when you come to believe that you can live life differently than you're living it now
.

IT is not on the way, IT is already here…
IT is not out there somewhere, IT is inside you somewhere…
Get in touch with IT.

If Prayer Would Do It, I'd Pray...

Today, May 4th, is the National Day of Prayer in the United States.
People are asked to "turn to God in prayer and meditation."
The President always signs an official Proclamation "...encouraging American to pray..."

I suspect the whole thing is not as much a celebration of prayer as it is a celebration of showing we are in favor of prayer...much like we are in favor of mom and apple pie.
Those are my thoughts on the importance of the day...they will not be the thoughts of everyone.
Everybody gets to think their own thoughts.

Here...on this National Day of Prayer...are thoughts (some of which I have previously put in print) about what prayer may or may not be.

What prayer is and is not is a mystery to me.
Does it involve words?
Is silence the real key?
Does prayer only "work" when its offered in some deity's name?
If 500 people pray for the same thing (like a sick friend, or world peace) is that more effective than if just 1 person prays?  Or, 50?  Or, 499?

Is contemplation the same as prayer?
What about reflection?

If I say "I will pray for you," is that dismissive of your problem/pain/illness, or does it show compassion and concern?  Maybe both?

Found a definition of prayer that describes it as "an invocation or an act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity."  I wonder if that is really the best way to invoke or activate a relationship with a deity.  Any deity.  Don't know that it is, don't know if it isn't.  But I suspect there may be other and better ways to go about this thing.

I wonder what the proper place of prayer in real life is.
I think often of these words from Stephen Levine:
“If prayer would do it, I’d pray.”

At the advanced age of 72, and after over 41 years of serving as a pastor, I think very differently about prayer than I did earlier in my life. I think of prayer now as a way of quieting myself in an attempt to sense what can be known about the Creator's presence. I think of prayer now as a way of "dumping" some of the busyness...some of the crud...some of the trivia that resides in me, and taking in some calmness and grace that the Creator may want to send my way.

On those Sunday mornings when I led the prayers during worship at the final church I served, I offered these words: 

“In these moments of silence

Speak, and we will listen

Listen, and we will speak the words of our hearts.”


That’s where I am with prayer these days…and most likely where I will remain.