Soul Rhythms » faith journey

Half-way toward prayer goal

yslamb — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:38:11 +0000

Half-way points are intriguing places. They are the mid-way spots between do or don’t, go on or go back. They are places where one decision takes you to a new height and the other takes you back were you have been.

That’s where I am now on my year-long quest to make prayer primary in my life through reading, studying the Scripture and praying intentionally and persistently. And it’s clear to me after six-months that there is no turning back. Instead, I am pushing forward toward the prize of a closer relationship with God.

Prayer is about being in constant communion with God and knowing His will, not just asking for what I think I need. Increasingly, prayer is taking me out of a posture of passivity into action. More and more during prayer I find myself asking, “Lord, what you desire me to do about this situation?”

I love what Bill Bright said in his book, “The Joy of Active Prayer.” He calls prayer the greatest privilege of the Christian life and the most revolutionary source of power known to humanity. He continue:

“Communing with God is the ultimate adventure, and it is available today, tomorrow and every moment you live on this planet. I have seen the amazing power of God time and time again because I have prayed as the Spirit directed, and I know you can do the same.”

Several years ago while at journalism symposium for women in Jackson Hole, Wyo., a group of us decided to hike up a mountain in the Grand Tetons. The scenery energized me, but the higher we climbed the more tired I became. One of my companions had to stop for a few minutes and catch her breath. She considered going back down the trail.

Something in me was determined to keep going. So I trudged on, panting and stepping gingerly over loose rocks and slippery slopes until I reached the top. What a view – white clouds and blue sky stretching for miles and miles in majestic splendor. Standing there in the rarefied air of the moment, I felt the nearness of God. It was exhilarating to be able look out on the vast beauty God created for us to enjoy.

That experience is one I return to often when I reach half-way points in my life such as this one. And on some days during this six months, it’s been a little like climbing a mountain – slippery slopes, selfish prayers, lost prayer opportunities and all. But I wouldn’t trade this time of the learning and growing for anything. I am at a point of no return.

“I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 13-14

Seeking the peaceful path anew

yslamb — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:00:55 +0000

As I was driving in the early morning rain to a meeting, insight from my walk the day before crystallized. I want my faith journey to be like a labyrinth and not like a maze. I want to promote peace, not confusion; to bring healing, not hurt. I want the prayer, “Lord make me an instrument of your peace,” to be a living, breathing organism inside me that reveals itself by the power of the Holy Spirit every nano-second of the day.

I felt drawn on Monday to get up from my computer, silence my Blackberry and go for an afternoon walk in one of my favorite places, Brookside Gardens. After strolling around the beautifully manicured grounds, soaking in the fragrance of the flowers and studying a sunbathing turtle with it webbed feet sticking out, I started toward the labyrinth. From a short distance, I saw a middle-aged couple standing and kissing in the center of the circular area.

The labyrinth is a popular place; children enjoy playing in the eight concentric rings that form its winding path. This labyrinth is a playground for them, not the place for reflective thought that labyrinths were orginally designed to be. On a previous visit with a friend when I tried to walk the labyrinth, I grew annoyed when two children ran into the circle in front of me and kept running around. But this time amid my Lenten season praying and fasting, I entered in a different spiritual place.

So when a little boy about 5 and his younger sister came into the labyrinth a few minutes after I started, I focused on the path. The little boy, his face bright and earnest, walked behind me as we moved in and out of the flowing walkway. His sister, on the hand, beautiful and energetic, charted her own course.

“Stopping cutting, Lisa. You cheating,” the little boy told his sister as she gleefully skipped back and forth across the lanes. “Stop cutting.”

I saw myself in both of them. Sometimes I have dutifully followed along, trusting that God would lead me to the center of His Will. I read the Bible, prayed, fasted and did what I knew to be right. Other times I have willfully taken shortcuts or awkwardly maneuvered around obstacles to make my own way in situations; I stopped short of seeking God’s guidance or felt that He was taking too long to get me to the place where I knew I needed to be. Now I striving to be where God wants me to be.

When my new-found shadow and I reached the center of the labyrinth we rejoiced together, each of us raising our arms triumphantly as if we had just obtained a prize. Neither of us took the walk back through the labyrinth and out, as is suggested for completing this brief journey. The boy’s parents who were standing on the sidelines were ready to move on. And I noticed three girls running to the area and decided to go sit on a nearby stone, observe and meditate.

I sat there for several minutes, releasing to God the remnants of a busy weekend and the challenges of the coming week. I watched as families of all hues and nationalities passed by, bringing to mind the sobering tour I took on Saturday of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum and a recent meeting of the diverse Baptist group of which I am a part. A flow of thoughts led to this one: “Follow peace with all men…”

It’s not always easy to do that while operating in my own frail humanness, but my goal is to try to follow the peaceful path. Pursuing that route is far better than bumping about in a complex maze of walls, dead end corners and confusing turns. My prayer today is God lead me and I will follow. I can be sure that God’s singular path is the clear, sure way.

This cannot be a solitary walk. Want you join me in pursuing peace as we go about our daily doings? You and I, and the world, will be better for it.

photo from Businessmen in Christ

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Are we there yet?

yslamb — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:52:17 +0000

While hurrying down a neighborhood street the other day, I encountered about 20 pint -sized travelers walking in twos on the sidewalk. Just as I passed the last of them and their teacher, a little boy asked with some urgency: “Are we there yet?”

As a mother of two once-little children, I had heard that antsy query, which sounds more like a plaintive plea –”please let us be there soon” – many, many times as we traveled by car from D.C. to Georgia. I smiled when it floated through the air on that crisp and sunny fall afternoon. The teacher’s quick reply came as “not yet…now turn around.” (During the fall, it’s great to walk through the city and just take in the fall foliage. The neighborhoods are always splendidly arrayed in colors as seen in this photo by Bill Bake.)

I don’t know where the there is to which the children were going, but seeing them and hearing that little voice reminded me that I have my own “Are we there yet?” questions rattling around in my head. On my faith journey– where sometimes I’m walking, sometimes running and sometimes stumbling– I have come to moments when I’ve stopped and looked around and asked myself “am I there yet?” I know some of the places I want to be and I know that there are some places God is taking me that I won’t know where I am going until I get there. I am becoming better at trusting God as I walk by faith and not by sight.

I see evidences of God’s hand guiding me to places of vocation that I had not planned for in this post-retirement phase of my life. While a couple of them are not the positions I envisioned for myself two years ago –vice president of a blog site I help create and president of a 134-year-old Baptist convention, I can look back over my life and see the trail of experiences, academic training and biblical instruction that has brought me to where I am and prepared me to carry out the duties I now have.

And when I have faltered in my confidence about these roles, I have had friends encourage me and have heard the words of God whispering in my heart and strengthening me: “I know the plans I have for you…be of good courage…trust me.” One of my favorite course-redirecting Scriptures comes from Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Am I there yet? Some days, I feel and act as though I am. Unfortunately, some days I am like that little boy I passed on the sidewalk. I stop and look at the road ahead and shout out my impatience with the pace of things. I, too, want to be there. For me that means several things, including being the best I can be in each position the Lord has placed me –my marriage, my family, my church, my friendships, my work, my vocational pursuits. I know there’s a lot packed into that statement, and I am growing in confidence that if I keep pressing on and trusting in God, I’ll get there.

It also means not giving in to the lies of doubt, fear and insecurity that sometimes pop up like cracks on the sidewalk that cause me to lose my footing and stumble. It means moving forth in faith even when I face unexpected opposition and difficulties. It means allowing God to use all that He has deposited into me and is continuously pouring into me for His greater glory. It means being there, being present in the moment and moving along with what God is doing in my life and in the world.

What about you? Where are you on your faith journey? Are you moving ahead with confidence that God is taking you to the positions where He wants you to be? Or are you constantly stopping and impatiently asking, “Are we there yet?’ Have you recently or ever taken time to look over your life and notice the milestones that only God could have placed there? If not, take some time and do it today. You may be surprised at what you see.

In the meanwhile, do what the other youngsters that I encountered that day were doing – looking forward, walking together, laughing, talking and enjoying the journey.

A good greeting makes a day sparkle

yslamb — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:21:06 +0000

My neighbor, a loquacious woman with bubbly personality, always exudes the right attitude. When I greeted her the other morning with a hello and asked how she was doing, she replied without hesitation. “I’m living my best life.”

As she hurried along our street with three small children in tow, she turned her head in my direction again and said: “I guess it’s my time to shine.”

Her words stuck with me. What a wonderful outlook with which to start the day and to live with as you carry out your duties, whether mundane or monumental.

No matter the time of day that I see this mother of five, who has her own business and is a bit of news junkie, she offers some word of encouragement or insight. A silver lining of hope even accompanies her the days when she seems stressed or overwhelmed with work.

She knows how to celebrate life with or without a party or a picnic. Like the sparklers that light a Fourth of July night, my neighbor brightens the moments we share either in passing or in longer conversations. There’s no grandiose pretense about her, no posturing or preening. She’s an ordinary woman who is made more beautiful by her heart actions and her desire to live as completely and intentionally as she can.

As she lives her best life, I am made better. And as I live mine, she is made better. How we greet each other with our words and our attitudes can make a difference in someone’s life. What would the world be like, if we all greeted the day and each other like my neighbor.

“Our journey with God can be made much more simple if only we take the time and efforts each day to remember that true ordinariness is indeed tangible holiness.” —From “Touching the Holy” by Robert J. Wicks

The other side of autumn

yslamb — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:44:47 +0000

Autumn, with all its beauty, has a flip side. After driving along and admiring trees arrayed in brilliant colors, I turned into a suburban neigborhood to a friend’s house. Along one block, leaves, drab and dry, covered yards and spilled out onto the sidewalk and streets. Following a hard rain Tuesday, leaves clogged street drains and filled house gutters. Some streets flooded and had to be closed. Autumn isn’t a passive season; it requires some work. It is a lot like living a life of faith.

Autumn calls us to moments of grace when we can pause and soak up the glory of God. Then something happens. The winds blow, rains pour and clinging leaves lose their grip and tumble to the ground. If you are fortunate to live on a leafy street as I do, then you know that this time of year also means lots of raking, leaf blowing, bagging and sweeping. If it rains, it means being careful not to slip on wet leaves if you’re walking and not to skid on them if you’re driving. Day by day trees lose not just the color that favors our days, they also lose the leaves that cover our yards.

Such is my faith journey. My best spirit-filled seasons are filled with awe, joy and thanksgiving. Much like the time I hiked up a mountain trail in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and reached the top. Standing there and surveying the fall greenery below and the cloud-dappled sky above, the conviction that I can truly do all things through Christ radiated through me. I knew I was in the presence of a mighty God.

I’ve experienced that mountain top sensation many times since as I have grown in my relationship with God. It has come after spending time in a community of sisters at a church retreat, where women have shared, cried and worshipped together. It also has come during individual disciplined study and prayer as I have searched for and found answers to questions troubling my heart. A good sermon, with a message that seems directed specifically to me, also has lifted me to new heights.

On the flip side, there have been times I have felt like I’m climbing a mountain in fuzzy bedroom slippers. Those were my dry days — days when I felt like I could nothing right. Have you ever had those? Sometimes I go though a stretch when I just cannot focus during prayer or Bible study. My spirit is weaken from being too busy and feeling overwhelmed. I have gone on walks to meditate and clear my head and instead come back with more things on my mind than before. I’ve come realize that during those seasons it’s okay to pull away briefly from church activities and other peopled functions to regroup. Then I work hard to clear away the dryness. What I have come to know is that the same things that I do to elevate my soul are even more necessary to break through the morass that clogs my spirit.

Right now I am taking delight in today, colorful leaves and drab leaves both. Because I know that good days follow bad.