Portico Church

So the "blogging my way thru spiritual disciplines" idea is more difficult than it sounded.  I find that my days are still so crazy that, by the time I find a moment to blog, I haven't had time to experience a discipline, so I've nothing to say.  I guess I should revisit that word "discipline" . . .

In this journey so far I have spent time in disciplines of abstinence - doing without - like silence and solitude.  Both have been fruitful, though challenging.  Both have found their way into the flow of my life.  Now I turn my focus on a discipline of engagement - prayer.  Seems simple, seems common . . . seems silly to intentionally focus on this because it is already prevalent in my life!  Or is it . . .

I pray frequently, at various times in the day, for various reasons, etc.   When I'm eating with a group, they'll often say "hey, let's have the pastor pray", so there's also that.  Pray for me is genuine and from the heart, not rote, not mechanical, not even obligatory (ok, let's not analyze dinner-time prayers just yet!)

But as I have been preparing for this next part of the disciplines journey, I've realized that there are some common things in most (all?) of my prayers.  First, they're always on my timing, at my initiation, you know, when I have something to say.  Second, they're always about just that - what I have to say. 

Kind of like when I order at In-N-Out.  The person hiding inside the lighted menu thing in the drive-thru says "hi, how are you today" and I say "fine, and you?" (see, I really care about them!)  But from that point on, I list off everything I want in the way I want it.  One of these days that person is going to bust out of that lighted menu thing and tear into me for alway being so demanding, so self-focused.

So I'm thinking there has to be more to prayer, more possibilities - how it flows, how it's initiated, the focus, the purpose, the form, the rhythm, the blessings, the challenges.

. . . it's possible that prayer isn't about me.