Prayer for an Undivided Life


Most of us isolate prayer from the rest of what God is doing in our lives pg. 168 APL

In Christ's family there can be no division... Gal 3:28

I am seeking connection. Continuity. What I do in one area of my life connects to another. I have lamented that I have a divided God, maybe better said two Gods. One is a master of the universe, a master calculator and planner. His intellectual capacity is unfathomable; He is able to plan the end from the beginning and recalculate given myriad alternate variables. The other God is a lover. His love reaches unsearchable depths and knows no bounds. This God almost seems flighty to me, the kind of god that would trip over his own steps while in pursuit of the object of his affection. But here's the thing: the incalculably great god and the uncalculating lover god are God. Maybe that's what the phrase God is Love is all about. It's an ajoinment of two farcical ideas, finding their way to one Person. Perhaps God is the answer to our disconnected lives.

The divided life aspect I was considering this morning (from last night) was how my prayer life seems disconnected from my actual life. Praying is what I do in the morning for 15 minutes, and then I go off for the next 18 hours or whatever to live life. And somehow that 15 minutes is supposed to be the thing that carries me for the 18 hours. There's a disconnect there.

In search of a way to bring more cohesion to my meditation time and my lived out life, I thought about journaling in the evening, reflecting, and then coming up the next morning and preparing for the day. I think that I have a decent idea of what the reflection should be. It's simple enough to consider: what came up for the day, what was the unifying theme? But as for the morning, I don't have a good idea  of what that should be. Interesting, huh? I can analyze the occurrences, but I have difficulty preparing to give them shape.

Lord, help me in my isolated life. My prayers are disconnected, as is my meditation time. They are divorced somehow from my life. Lord, tell me this is a temporary separation, not the final word. Help me connect with You in the morning and to hold onto that connection throughout the day. Help me to find You and stay with You. The ideas are prevailing in my mind, but not The Life. Lord, let The Life prevail.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

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