SWEET

One time I wanted to read prayers written by famous religious people like Mother Teresa, Meister Eckhart, Katherine of Siena, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. I expected beautiful, if long-winded, invocations filigreed with esoteric language that soared to the heights of heaven. Instead, what I found shocked me. They were short, simple.

And one more thing: they were intimate.

Surprisingly, they were tender,appeals much more like I'd expect from a young child confiding in a loving parent than from a spiritual giant addressing the Creator of the universe. Then I remembered that Jesus said something of a similar vein in his Gethsemane prayer: “Abba, father...” (‘Abba’ is Greek for “Daddy.”)

Now that’s intimate!

What does such sweet and endearing language reveal? Many things: loyalty, respect, obedience, vulnerability, and willingness. Most of all? Trust...deep...complete...utter...abiding trust. Further, Jesus' words that followed reinforce this. “Abba, father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

It makes me stop and think about my own prayers. It models for me the kind of intimate relationship that brings the spiritual greats of every age to their knees in loving adoration, openness and humility. And most of all, it moves me to thankfulness, knowing that this One to whom we pray is worthy of even Jesus’ deepest trust--much less our own.

What about you?

 

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.