Acting Up and Out ~~ The Church Today

Saturday morning prayer...

The sturdy stump sat solidly
as I slowly chipped away at it.
Saw dust stirred and settled in the grass.
Bits flew suddenly off.
And there were moments I wondered if I would ever finish
Or was just the task an exercise in futility.

Piece by piece.
Step by step.
Painstakingly slow.
Wondering if I was really make progress.
Just like life itself.

Rarely does a day bring leaps and bounds of success.
It takes time.
One step forward...two back...two forward in a divine dance.
One of the ways prayer works on you is a place and pace to reflect.
Review your life.
Renew your spirit not by doing but by being.
Prayer invites us to breathe in grace
And exhale anxiety.
Breathe in love
And exhale our less-than-gracious understandings of self and other.
Breathe in hope
And exhale all that stale, stifling sense that things have never been this bad.
Breathe
Exhale.


Breathe.
Exhale.

And be drenched in more than just a trace of God's abundant grace.