the cathedral that is a canopy of trees

Think

 "Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer."

--L.M. Montgomery in Anne of Green Gables

Pray

Holy Spirit, guide my feet. Take me to the places you've created to nourish my soul. Let me go there, breathe deep there, and inhale You. Let me never take for granted the cathedral that is a canopy of trees beneath a glorious autumn sky.

Act

Go outside. Find a place where you can appreciate the simple beauty of the natural world. Inhale deeply, exhale prayer.

~*~*~

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my #morningrun.

Undo the Knots & Calm the Chaos

THINK

“As soon as we are alone,...inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering a private room and shutting the door, therefore, does not mean that we immediately shut out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when we have removed our outer distraction, we often find that our inner distraction manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important.” 

-- Henri Nouwen

Solitude: 

We crave it and then, when we have it, we fill it with iPods, and smart phones, and radios, and all the worlds they open for us. We invite the noise into our silence, because we are uneasy in the quiet of our own thoughts. And yet, solitude holds the very tools we need to repair the chaos in our souls.

PRAY

Come, Holy Spirit! Help me to be comfortable in the silence of my own heart. Keep me company there. Undo the knots and calm the chaos. Teach me to be at ease in the silence of our companionship.

ACT

Make time to be silent for as long as possible today. Turn it all off. Be truly grateful for the time, even if it’s just a few moments. Tomorrow, try to go a little longer. 

~*~*~

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my #morningrun.

Embrace the Now

THINK

"Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, any depression, since after all you don't know what work these conditions are doing inside you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after all, that you are in the midst of transitions and you wished for nothing so much as to change. If there is anything unhealthy in your reactions, just bear in mind that sickness is the means by which an organism frees itself from what is alien; so one must simply help it to be sick, to have its whole sickness and to break out with it, since that is the way it gets better."

—    — Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)

OH! I’ve wished for nothing so much as to change. And here I am; change upon me and I’m asking God why it’s all moving so fast and why I can’t just settle into the known and the familiar again. It’s time to stop fighting the change and to see it instead as the way to wholeness.

PRAY

Jesus, grant me the grace to see You at work in the midst of trials. Help me to have the perspective necessary to embrace the now, to uncover its joys, and to allow it to have its way with my soul, for Your glory. 

ACT

Take a walk, preferably with someone you love. Notice the beauty in the change of seasons. 

~*~*~

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my morning run.

Strengthen Me, O Lord

THINK

"If only we could be what we hope to be, by the great kindness of our generous God! He asks so little and gives so much, in this life and in the next, to those who love him sincerely. In a spirit of hope and out of love for him, let us then bear and endure all things and give thanks for everything that befalls us, since even reason can often recognise these things as weapons to win salvation. And meanwhile let us commend to God our own souls and the souls of those who, being more ready for it, have reached the place of rest before us although they walked the same road as we do."  Gregory the Nazianzen in today's Office of Readings

PRAY

God, I promise to bear and to endure. Would you please help me to bear and to endure cheerfully? I need strength training, Lord. I want to carry the heavy crosses with a lightness and an ease that comes with knowing that You carry it with me. Strengthen me. Let me run with glad endurance.

ACT

Tackle a tough task today, something you’ve put it off. Do it cheerfully.

~*~*~

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my morning run.

Leave the Rest Up to God

Think

"I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. A faith that just accepts is a child's faith and all right for children, but eventually you have to grow religiously as every other way, though some never do.

What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can't believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God. " ~Flannery O'Connor from The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Pray

Lord, I believe:
Help my unbelief.  Let my faith grow in its fullness and push away all the doubts in my mind. Let knowing You permeate my every thought. God, please grant me a joyful faith, one that sings with gladness and grants abundant peace to my soul. And when things get tough, make Yourself obvious to me. Hold me closer so that I don't falter. Give me a spirit of humility, always knowing how much I need you and always certain that You will provide according to my genuine necessity. 

Act

Flannery O'Connor's reference to electric blankets got me thinking. It's time to bless our families with blankets on the beds and warm clothing. For most of us, this is the time tackle the seasonal clothing switch. How can you offer warmth to the people you love today? 

~*~*~*~

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my morning run.