The Handiwork of Healthy Prayer

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” – Jesus (Mk. 12:30-31)

Earlier in my spiritual journey, during my teenage years, I can remember setting a goal for myself – thirty minutes of prayer every day. Thirty minutes seemed like a nice, round number. It was the length of an episode of Saved by the Bell. It seemed quite attainable.

For the first few days, I figured things were going pretty well. I was enjoying my time of prayer each day, and I was especially satisfied by the realization that I had made a goal and was sticking to it.

However, after a few days, I recognized a strange dynamic at play. I came to grips with the awareness that my motivation wasn’t so much about making meaningful connection with God, as much as it was about feeling the gratification of achieving my measurable goal.

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Muscadines, Me, and Prayer

Prayer, Spiritual Growth

Somehow I managed to live the first 35 years of my life having never heard of the sweet nectar of heaven that is the muscadine grape. Several months ago, a couple in our church invited my wife (Carrie) and me over to their house for dinner. Soon after we arrived, the husband invited me to taste some grapes from the vine in their backyard.

I had eaten grapes plenty of times throughout my life. The ordinary kind in the produce section of a typical grocery store. But I had never tasted a muscadine before. I’m not sure I had ever even heard the word.

That August evening in that backyard when I squeezed the juice of that first grape into my mouth, my life was changed forever. I’m pretty sure I actually said it out loud: “Where have you been all my life?”

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Jesus and Blackbirds

Prayer, Spiritual Growth

At home, my favorite place to pray and enjoy some solitude is in my rocking chair on my balcony. It’s a relatively secluded space, quiet enough, and ideal for periodically breaking away from the noise and distraction of activity.

As I sit in my rocking chair I am at eye level with the crowns of several trees around my yard. It’s a great place for watching birds. I am not a birdwatcher by hobby, but I cannot help but notice and enjoy watching the various species of birds interact with one another in the trees that surround our property. I have seen lots of blue jays, woodpeckers, doves, cardinals, and mockingbirds.

Recently, as I was in prayer and contemplation, I watched a group of blackbirds sitting on a power line. After a few moments, one of them flew down and landed in a nearby yard. The others followed. After another few seconds, one of them flew up into a tree. Again, the others followed. This went on for a few minutes. From one tree to the next…to the powerline…to another powerline…and so on. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the movement. But if one of the birds flew off, the others unquestionably followed suit. There was no true destination. The destination was the flock itself.

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