As the week begins…Prayer

I sat in reflection early this morning in the darkness as I looked into the candle’s flame burning on my world Religion table, where one of my Bibles sits with crosses and a small tabletop Tibetan prayer wheel. Okay…my table is a dresser because I wanted a mirror so I could reflect on the person in the mirror.

"I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change."

I returned to a moment last Saturday afternoon when Catherine Crisanto walked with me through the San Juan Island Sculpture Park. We spent time with the prayer wheel sculpture, which had ceramic prayer wheels with a wooden structure. Slips of paper with pens and pencils were available. I wrote prayers to place in each wheel. I opened each wheel and noticed hundreds of prayers in each wheel. I then closed and gently spun each wheel, releasing the prayer.

I contemplated on my journey back to Seattle on the San Juan Clipper prayer. A patient from my chaplain residency asked me to pray with him. I did. He then requested that I teach him to pray. I looked directly in his eyes, smiled and said, “There are as many ways to pray as there are people. You will find your way to pray and it will speak to you.”

I prayed with him each day during his stay. The nurses paged me later that week and said this patient needed me to come now. I hurried to his room and looked in the door. He sat on the bed fully dressed. He was discharging in a few minutes. He said, I’d like to pray.” I started to pray, and he stopped me. He offered the prayer.

As one denomination says, “God is still speaking.” I will take this a step further. “God is still listening. You are being heard.”

What message will you send out this week? And how will it be received and answered?