Thursday’s Reflection
I’M NOT SURE when I began to feel boxed in by my prayer life. The boundaries began to blur. The formulas faded. My prayer notebook, which had recorded petitions offered and answered, was banished forever to an attic box of outworn relics. My mind wandered during church prayers, and my morning rituals were as dull as dirt. Though I still valued private prayer time, the traditional prayer liturgies in church, and the habitual grace before meals, wasn’t there something more?
It began as a kind of spiritual squirming, a discomfort that I first judged as rebellion on my part. Inside, I assumed God would not be pleased. However, when my spiritual director encouraged me to view the restlessness not as condemnation but as invitation from God, I was finally able to regard the feeling as a kind of divine discontent. Maybe it was actually a gift — some new growing edge of faith toward which God was nudging me. If we’re never led to be uncomfortable with the status quo, we’ll never change anything. God is always in the business of inviting us to deeper growth.
- Linda Douty
Praying in the Messiness of Life
From page 11 of Praying in the Messiness of Life: 7 Ways to Renew Your Relationship with God by Linda Douty. Copyright & copy; 2011 by Linda Douty. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
In what ways is God inviting you to deepen your spiritual life? Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray struggling congregations. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for an online devotional specific to the season of Lent? Check out The Awkward Season.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Katherine Drexel (March 03).
- Lectionary Readings:
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2011 The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
