 Darts of Love and
prayer
Jesus was always praying.
Every so often, He would suddenly come out with something like "Thank-You
Father!" or "Praise you Father!" - and even when He was on that hateful
cross, He was still praying - just odd phrases that He could squeeze out through the
agony... Not a pleasant memory, that one...
But it was who He was. He didn’t only pray at set times in set places - although He did do that - no, He seemed to have this running conversation going on between Himself and the Father all the time. He would take Himself off for times of special prayer - but even if He was helping to carry the water home - and chatting with you - you knew that somewhere deep inside, He was talking - and listening to God. That’s why - every now and again - words would just burst out of Him. It’s a kind of prayer I found that I could do - well, once I’d got used to it - and I never got to the stage of feeling very comfortable about saying things out loud - though I know some people do. But, I got into the habit of saying a quick phrase at odd moments - and it soon became automatic. It might be as simple as remembering to say "Thank-you Father" when something good came along - or "Help Lord" when something hard came along. I sometimes used some of Jesus’ words - like "I am your Way" - "Don’t be afraid" - "You in Me and I in you" "Come to Me" - and it felt as if He was there speaking to me. Or I’d think of words that went with a job - like drawing water "Living Water refresh me" - or lighting the lamps "Light of the world - let Your Light shine in me" - pruning the vines "Lord of the Vineyard - make me fruitful" All sorts of one-line prayers - all of them reminding me that you can pray all the time - even when you don’t have time!Drinking from the Wellspring The idea of frequent short prayers - or aspirations - has a long tradition in Christianity.Celtic Christians had a prayer for everything - going out - and coming in - lighting the fire - extinguishing the fire...everything they did during the day had a prayer that went with it. Try some of the phrases that "Martha" suggested - and try some of your own. It may feel strange at first - but persevere -and try to develop the habit of sending little darts of love and prayer through to God during the course of the day.| Wellspring Home Page | Wellsprings for the World |
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