Good morning…
As I prepared with God for my annual kickoff talk with the Lovett School Moms In Prayer group, I sensed one thing we all have in common: we all worry. We don’t want to worry. We don’t plan to worry. We don’t have to be taught to worry. Our human minds just seem to automatically worry. We worry about the welfare of our children, sports, friends, belonging. We worry about the chaos of our wounding world. We worry about the year ahead, our hopes and dreams battle our fears. Our worries grow big in the dark of night, grabbing our attention, stealing our sleep, spiraling us down, down, down.
That is … until … we make a shift. We begin to see our worries as a gift, a personalized gift to unwrap with God. The worries that wake us up at 3:00 a.m. expose the growing edge of our innermost self. These worries become great fodder for prayer, as we deepen into our conversational relationship with God. I learned this summer that the short Bible verse, “Pray always,” means in its original language, “Come to rest.” When we pour out our worries to the God who sees, knows and cares, we come to a place of rest within our soul. We release control to the One who is in control, we breathe more freely, and we offer ourselves as a non-anxious presence to others who are working out their own worries.
Yesterday around 8:00 am, about sixty moms filled The Lovett School scout hut. Before everyone sat down, I laid out on the tables about seventy of the wordless prayer cards I have created over the past several months. After discussing the art of turning our worries into prayers, each woman was invited to choose a card. Silently, for about twelve to seventeen seconds, we quietly played with wordless prayers elicited by the image on our chosen card. Since that which is most personal is also most universal, the emotions I felt creating each card spurred similar emotions in the women lifting wordless prayers. When we can take captive a negative thought (a worry) and, for twelve to seventeen seconds, we focus our attention on something beautiful, something for which we are grateful, something that draws us close to the Someone who loves us and is leading us, then we allow our brain to “come to rest” in a state of positive trust. This inner transformation is what authentic prayer is designed to do, changing our inner landscape with God, from panic to peace, at any given moment.
After our short, wordless prayer time together, some moms chose to share their touching experiences with the group. Fresh insights were gleaned. Tears filled the eyes of many in the room, as tears are a sign of the Holy Spirit at work, tenderizing us, transforming our hearts. (We even agreed that a good cry is like vomiting. We feel so much better afterward!)
If we have time to worry, we have time to pray. So bow down under God’s strong hand; then when the time comes, God will lift you up. Since God cares for you, let Him carry all your burdens and worries (1 Peter 5:6-7, VOICE).
Individually and collectively, we left the great gathering feeling calmed, connected, committed to practicing the art of turning our worries into prayer.
…Sue…
P.S. Before our final group prayer, I highlighted the monthly opportunity to create wordless prayer cards together at Northside Church and the monthly opportunity at our home to prayerfully use miniature symbols to create a world in trays of sand, listening well to God’s Spirit in our soul. I also invited the young moms to join me on Wednesday nights at Northside Church as I facilitate a discussion of Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, beginning tomorrow night at 5:00 pm.
To encourage our continued connection, I promised the group I would send the description of our Women’s Ministry fall classes, the link to our everyday blog, and the registration form for this semester: www.NorthsideUMC.org/womensclasses
Please check out the positive possibilities!
