The Twelve Steps and Lent: Step 11
Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Conscious contact with God comes through prayer in its various forms: adoration, praise, thanksgiving, penitence, oblation, intercession, petition (see p.856-7 of the Catechism is the Book of Common Prayer)and/or meditation. All of these actions are intentional. Until we are spiritually advanced, none of this comes unfailingly automatically. One must intentionally focus on developing our relationship with our Higher Power. No long-term, lasting, reliable relationship 'just happens'.
Don't get me wrong here...there are instances when the connection to our Higher Power and the Divine will feels nearly effortless - similar to the 'click' connection some of us make with certain friends, even strangers. Most of us, however, have to invest more time and some discipline to establish and maintain our prayerful (conversational) relationship with God.
A time-honored tradition is to set up a regular prayer time - in the morning, noon, afternoon, afternoon or night. The time you establish will be dictated, in part, to your disposition as a 'morning' or 'evening' person... in part, it will be dependent on the flow of your day. Perhaps your lunch hour or morning or evening breaks will give you that set 15 minutes in a quiet spare office or a park bench to give God a 'call'. You may have to try on different times of day before you find a comfortable, reasonable conference call, but if you want it to happen (and it begins to dawn on you that you need it to happen in order to maintain your equilibrium and progress) it will happen.
You needn't provide your Higher Power with a shopping list of your woes or wants -- remember, it's the omnipotent creator of all that you're dealing with -- you are required, with no particular dress code, to show up ready to listen. Confess your faults, offer your struggles... then listen.
Even if you don't hear words or see sparkles or feel the hairs stand up on your arms, you will be heard... and the part of your heart which had become hardened to unconditional love will slowly learn to hear- and perhaps feel - the love, warmth and direction of God in a new way.
Conscious contact with God comes through prayer in its various forms: adoration, praise, thanksgiving, penitence, oblation, intercession, petition (see p.856-7 of the Catechism is the Book of Common Prayer)and/or meditation. All of these actions are intentional. Until we are spiritually advanced, none of this comes unfailingly automatically. One must intentionally focus on developing our relationship with our Higher Power. No long-term, lasting, reliable relationship 'just happens'.
Don't get me wrong here...there are instances when the connection to our Higher Power and the Divine will feels nearly effortless - similar to the 'click' connection some of us make with certain friends, even strangers. Most of us, however, have to invest more time and some discipline to establish and maintain our prayerful (conversational) relationship with God.
A time-honored tradition is to set up a regular prayer time - in the morning, noon, afternoon, afternoon or night. The time you establish will be dictated, in part, to your disposition as a 'morning' or 'evening' person... in part, it will be dependent on the flow of your day. Perhaps your lunch hour or morning or evening breaks will give you that set 15 minutes in a quiet spare office or a park bench to give God a 'call'. You may have to try on different times of day before you find a comfortable, reasonable conference call, but if you want it to happen (and it begins to dawn on you that you need it to happen in order to maintain your equilibrium and progress) it will happen.
You needn't provide your Higher Power with a shopping list of your woes or wants -- remember, it's the omnipotent creator of all that you're dealing with -- you are required, with no particular dress code, to show up ready to listen. Confess your faults, offer your struggles... then listen.
Even if you don't hear words or see sparkles or feel the hairs stand up on your arms, you will be heard... and the part of your heart which had become hardened to unconditional love will slowly learn to hear- and perhaps feel - the love, warmth and direction of God in a new way.
posted by Joanna Depue | 12:06 AM
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