Prayer
of Thanks
“You
may be wondering what I even mean when I use the word ‘prayer.’ It’s certainly
not what the TV Christians mean. It’s not for display purposes like plastic
sushi or neon. Prayer is private even when we pray with others… It is communication
from the heart to that which surpasses understanding. Let’s say it is from one’s
heart to God…the force that is beyond our comprehension…what lies beyond the
scrim of our values, positions, convictions, and wounds. It is a cry from deep
within to Life or Love, with capital L’s.”
Anne
Lamott (Three Simple Prayers: Help. Thanks. Wow.)
I’ve
been perusing the Thanksgiving prayers and blessings online. I’ll be honest
with you, they all sound like the dressed-up mumblings of Tiny Tim, or Forest Gump.
Cliché and drivel that used to come from the mouths of every evangelical tent-preacher
who combed the mountains for warm bodies to save. They kind of make my skin
crawl, to tell you the truth. So, I’m sticking with Anne Lamott—true prayer is
both private and brief.
Prayer
may be only a word—like Thanks, or Help! We may only sigh and feel our breath reach
out to God. I don’t think prayer requires words at all—it’s an attitude of
reverence for everything that is beyond us, greater than us and benevolent
towards us. It is not necessary to tell God what we want, because God knows our
true needs—even when we don’t. Just breathe and say, “Please.”
Whatever
we perceive God to be, we are connected to the power of love, the power of
Life, as Anne Lamott calls it. Not only are we connected to it, but we’re also part
of it, within it, surrounded by it. In fact, we cannot be disconnected from it
no matter what we do. All that is needed is to allow communion and connection
with the source from which we came and to whom we will always belong. Take a
deep breath and lean into it. If you must speak, just say Thank you.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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