Have you ever approached your meditation time or spiritual study time feeling that this was getting old? Or read sacred writings and felt that you weren't getting anything out of it?
I was talking over these questions with a friend of mine who, in my estimation, is a brilliant designer. We had just finished talking about home design (her speciality) and I was amazed at how quickly she could draw conclusions as to harmonizing color, balancing mass, determining a focal point and incorporating green systems all synergistically coming together in a development called home. The overall effect was not about window size or trim color (although those were components), but it was about creating a home in which people feel, well, at home.
What was it about this creative process that was so energizing, surprising and satisfying? How can we apply these principles to our prayer?
Prayer and art are synonymous to me. Good art always expands and stimulates thought and moves you forward, transforms you to a degree. Likewise with prayer.
So, back to the questions. Stay with me while I work out an answer.
Let's take the word develop. "It's a good word," said my friend and she cited Webster's dictionary definition. Its etymology says it is from the Old French desveloper, desvoluper which means to unwrap, expose.
Other meanings:
- to make visible or manifest
- to work out the possibilities of
- to create or produce especially by deliberate effort over time
- to make active or promote the growth of
- to move (as a chess piece) from the original position to one providing more opportunity for effective use
- to cause to unfold gradually
So to sum up, prayer is about unwrapping ourselves and growing into visible possibilities. OK. That's fresh! It is dropping whatever isn't working ( isn't Godlike) and seeing Life's possibilities unfold. Now I'm in.
There are times when I have set my schedule up so that I read one specific thing at this time, and give myself room to read other inspirational literature at another time. But I need to remember that this study in and of itself is NOT what makes good things happen. God's law (aka good things) is always happening. My prayer and study time are only effective if I see that it brings me in line with what already is.
God is in control. It is our yielding to God's Love, it is our shutting out whatever is distracting that brings us into prayer.
I remember seeing my friend at work. She had a direct approach to her work. She goes into a room and is quiet. During this time, her thought is actively engaged in seeing what already is there. Using her love of geometry and color, she is able to see what needs changing to bring the room in line with the more desirable qualities needed in a home. Suggestions follow, maybe to change the lighting, rearrange the furniture, add a color. It is never about the material objects themselves, but about the spiritual ideas that are behind them. For instance, it isn't about the angle of a light bulb, but it is about creating elegance and warmth.
Likewise in prayer. In that quiet sanctuary of thought, we are actively engaged in listening. Loving the purity of God's love and the omnipotence of God's laws, we see what needs to be changed to bring thought in line with the perfect principle of God and man. In dropping whatever is unGodlike, we reveal (unwrap or expose) who we are as a child of God - that unique combination of spiritual qualities that we reflect from God.
Prayer brings healing. Healing is a revealing of what already is. So it is not about walking or not walking - it is about movement. It is not about the light bulb - it is about light. It is not about the material thing - but the spiritual substance. The spiritual substance is what determines the outward and actual.
Prayer is transformational. It moves us from one position "to one providing more opportunity for effective use."
We would no more accept our prayer time to be dull than we would accept living in a beige room with mass produced cubes for furniture. This would be like accepting prayer to simply be "stereotyped borrowed speeches."
Prayer isn't beige. Prayer is desire. And prayer in Christian Science is aflame with divine Love.
Just as an artist goes from a blank canvas to one full of color, a blacksmith goes from a steel rod to a sculpture, a designer takes a mediocre home to a home of color and grace, so can we give our consent to prayer and we can expect our prayers to transform us.
To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.
