Changing patterns of prayer
"Second half of life" maturing and growth are often accompanied by changing patterns of prayer in our communication with God.[1] For example, we may find that quiet listening becomes more noticeable in our times with God. Or our intercession may be more of an "inviting" of people who come to mind into a space of quiet attentiveness before God. Our interceding may be "wordless," simply trusting God for his great love for that person and for their own longing for God.
In this blog a few 2HC friends share some examples from their own experience of prayer. As you read and reflect, let your heart be drawn to consider your life of prayer in this season. What seems most important to you now for your prayer life? What might God be inviting you to? What are other friends sharing with you about their experience of prayer?
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Look for the Light: A Prayer Altar
From a 2HC Cohort 1 member: Pictured above is a little prayer altar that God uses to help me pause in the middle of my days to pray. It is on my kitchen sink. This little station consists of visuals that help me pray for a neighbor boy who has lived with our family for many years. He is going through an especially rough patch right now. Often our prayers for him in this season don’t have words, just tears and groans.
I have been stirred by what goes on in prayer and communion with God that is rarely seen but very vital. “There is something about a hidden life with God that preserves something pure and beautiful.” (I am not sure who said this … but my spirit agrees.)
Moved by the example of a friend, who created a “flower offering with prayers for healing, clarity and transformation” in the lives of people she had met and heard from during the week, I put together a similar “prayer wreath.”
A Prayer Wreath
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From Amanda: My spiritual experience of prayer has changed for me in the second half of life. Prayer is no longer an obligation or a transaction between God and me. It is no longer an item on my daily to-do list. When I am asked to pray for someone or to pray in a group setting, I find myself pausing and being very careful with my words. I don’t want just to pour out a bunch of words that are like Christian “jargon.” Instead, I hold fast to short, succinct prayers uttered from the deepest part of my being and to prayers that I wholeheartedly believe. Prayer helps me be honest with my feelings and experiences. Once you start noticing God everywhere and in all things, every moment of the day is an encounter with God and every breath a prayer of awe. My favorite new verse that captures this well is “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world” (Matthew 5:6, MSG).
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From Jeff: The 2HC journey has led me to practice a regular prayer time of silence and of mentally repeating words that quiet my soul and focus my relationship with Jesus as friend and savior. I sit quietly for 21 minutes and breath in "Yah" and out "weh" for three or four long slow deep breaths, then repeat and center on "Into your hands I commit my spirit", or "You are in me, and I am in you and you are in the Father", or "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Sitting quietly, I am startled by my timer! I am pretty happy to be at 21 minutes! (With a goal to get to 30.) These are times of slowing, refreshment, renewal, and preparation for my day.
Photo by Umit Bulut on Unsplash
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[1] R. Thomas Ashbrook, in his book Mansions of the Heart: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth, describes a pathway for our spiritual growth journey of a deepening love relationship with God. The roadmap that he lays out is based on the seven mansions or dwelling places of spiritual growth depicted in the book The Interior Castle by the 16th century Spanish Carmelite nun and religious reformer, Teresa of Avila. Ashbrook has identified six markers for growth that change throughout our experience across the various stages of our spiritual journey. One of these markers is “changing patterns of prayer” in communication with God, which has prompted the idea for this blog.
