DAY 8 of our Retreat

I have met too many people who say they do not know how to pray.  Have you ever been awed by a beautiful sunset, or deeply touched while holding a sleeping baby, or moved to tears by something someone said to you or did for you?  Each of these:  the awe, the being deeply touched, the being moved to tears are all moments of prayer, even if we do not say the name "God" in the midst of those experiences.  God knows we are wordlessly praying, and God is grateful.

Kirvan reminds us that what happened in those moments was that we recognized "the presence of God in our lives" and we were "opened up."  That is one form of prayer, and it can be a powerful one -- but it is a form of prayer that many do not recognize as such -- because it is too -- what? -- human?  Our prayer lives crack open in a new way when we come to understand that we can find God in the smallest and most tender of moments, and God is waiting to be found there.

What matters, we are asked today.  Think of what and who matters most to you today, and there you will find God, hidden over and over again in the everydayness of life.  As our mantra reminds us today, God is wordless love.

REFLECTIONS:

• What struck me from today's reading?
• What could happen within me if today I asked myself what and who matters -- and then squinted a little in order to find God in ways I never found God before?
• "I know the words I use, which I am so dependent on, may not be what is most important."  (from "My Day is Ending")   Am I willing to take a risk and, once in a while.pray without words?