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Archive for March, 2009

Gratitude List

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

“I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” (Psalms 86:12 NRSV)

My mother was a big fan of gratitude. An attitude of gratitude was her everyday lifestyle and her direct route to prayer and God. Whenever I was sad, angry, grumpy, sick, naughty…she told me to sit down and write a list of all the things for which I was grateful. None of the other mothers or fathers on the block did this. I resented it. I wanted her to commiserate. I wanted her to let me rant and complain; but she didn’t often offer this opportunity. Whenever I staged a jeremiad, she turned to gratitude.

As an adult, I believe in a gratitude list. But I also believe in a few moments of muttering my discontent. An Ohio friend named Susan has resolved this issue. She gives herself a teeny tiny “pity party.” She pulls out an old-fashioned sand-filled egg-timer and goes ballistic for 3 minutes. When the sand reaches the bottom, she pulls out her pen and paper and writes a gratitude list. The process gives her a chance to vent and visit her misery, but little time to set up residence there.

So thanks, mom, for my first exposure to a gratitude list. I guess you were right–but I’m not happy about it. (See tomorrow’s blog.)

gratitude-list-a

Photo: Sybil MacBeth

Tags: egg-timer, gratitude, I Thessalonians 5:18, pity party, prayer, Psalms 86:12
Posted in Praying in Color | Permalink

Hallelujah!–Oops

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Memphis, Tennessee is in Easter mode. I’m still trying to keep a somewhat Holy Lent and the natural world outside the confines of my doors is not cooperating. Every tree and bush is on fire with resurrection. Spring has come!

A few days ago I needed to walk to Kinko’s to make copies. On a last- minute impulse I grabbed my camera. On the mile-long round trip I took seventy-four pictures. Everything was in bloom–dogwoods, ornamental fruit trees, tulip magnolias, redbuds, daffodils, hyacinths, azaleas, dandelions…. I couldn’t stop clicking. The colors were magnificent . I almost shrieked, “Hallelujah” but I caught myself–almost. It eked out.

In my church we avoid saying or singing ”Hallelujah” or “Alleluia” during Lent. We are really trying to focus on the pilgrim way, on 40-days of desert time, on the Passion of Jesus. Some years we take the Alleluia banners we have, put them in a big trunk, and slam the top shut with a loud thud. On Easter, we open the lid and “Alleluias” burst forth from the trunk and our lips. Once again, I know this Lenten practice is nothing God requires but it makes me more attentive and more grateful for the reasons for my Hallelujahs.

It was easier to keep Lent when I lived in Ohio where it’s cold and gray until May. In the midst of so much beauty and new life here, I’m struggling to wait out the two more weeks until I can shout, “Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship; praise him under the open skies.” (Ps: 150:1 MSG)

spring-2009-memphis2

Photos: Sybil MacBeth

Tags: Alleluia, Hallelujah, Lent, prayer
Posted in Praying in Color | Permalink

Lenten Calendar Week 4

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

This is my Lenten calendar after four weeks. I like the daily discipline of praying this way.
(See March 21)

Tags: calendar, Lent, prayer
Posted in Praying in Color | Permalink

Nighttime Revisions

Friday, March 27th, 2009

It’s 5AM Central Time and I’m at the computer. I woke up at 4:30 with “visions of sugar blogs dancing in my head.” One of the advantages of daily blogging is awakened attention. I’m paying much more attention to the things around me than I used to.

But the disadvantage is the nighttime attention. My brain doesn’t know when to rest or to let go. It ’s constantly coming up with new ideas and insisting on revisions of last week’s posts. I’ve learned to keep a pencil and paper near my bed. Without an immediate hard copy, the ideas disappear into some irretrievable filing system in my head. When the thoughts won’t subside I get up and head to the computer.

I’m grateful for the unbidden new ideas. In a conscious, wakeful state I might never have heard them. But the obsessive unbidden voice of revision is another story. I’m not opposed to revision. I’ve woken up more than once with a huge “Aha,” knowing I needed to make some changes in my writing or in my life. But the obsessive voice has a mean spirit. It’s not out to help, but to harass and harm. It says, “You’re not good enough; you’ll never get it right; start over; try harder. Or on second thought, just give up, loser.” This is the voice that will never let me hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21 NIV). Unlike God’s “Aha” voice that seeks change with love, this one speaks with hate. I need to slap a huge piece of duct tape on its mouth and shout a swift, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” (Matthew16:23 KJV)

Tags: attention, blogging, Matthew 25:21
Posted in Praying in Color | Permalink

Don’t Forget to Plié

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

My friend Gwen is a dancer and choreographer. A couple of days ago she wrote me a note about the new prayer blog: “Congratulations but don’t forget to plié.” I laughed, but then thought, “She may be onto something!”

The plié, one of the building-block exercises of ballet technique, is the bending of the knees with the knees pointed directly over the toes. Pliés provide flexibility, strength, placement, and protection. In physics, Newton’s Third Law tells us that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Without a plié, dancers could not leave the floor–no jumps, leaps, or turns. For the protection of the body and the fluidity of the performance, no dancer would think of going on stage without warming up or doing pliés .

So when Gwen says “Don’t forget to plié,” what I hear is “Don’t forget your spiritual pliés. If you’re going to write a blog about prayer, don’t forget to pray.” Well, duh! That’s obvious, isn’t it? Obvious yes, but easy to ignore. Living in an intensely Christian environment–attending church, leading workshops and writing books on prayer, being married to a minister…it’s easy for me to think I’m taking care of my own spiritual life. Not necessarily so. Sometimes I’m so busy I leap over the building blocks of my faith–study, worship, Scripture, and prayer. I head right for the performance.

So Gwen, thanks for the reminder. Maybe it’s not what you had in mind, but God can speak in unexpected ways. I’ll remember to do my pliés . jump-fifth1