Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Prayers and Prayerfulness


I love this quote from the chapter on "Prayers and Prayerfulness" in Br. David Stendl-Rast's book, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer:
The more we come alive and awake, the more everything we do becomes prayer.  Eventually, even our prayers will become prayer.  Some people find it easier to eat and drink prayerfully -  mindfully - than to say their prayers prayerfully.  Should this surprise anyone?  Why assume that our prayer life starts with saying prayers?  If prayerfulness is our highest degree of aliveness, the starting point might be whenever we spontaneously come alive.  Does it seem easier to recite a Psalm with recollection than to eat or drink or walk or hug with that same wonderment and concentration?  It may well be the other way around.  For some of us, saying prayers wholeheartedly may be the crowning achievement after we have learned to make every other activity prayer.  (p. 48)
What does prayerfulness look like for you today?

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