Jonah take Four

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.  Jonah 2:1-3

So, here is what I will never know, how sincere is Jonah's prayer?  Does he really mean these words you just read above?  After all, Mr. Runaway Prophet turned Sleeping Beauty in the bottom of the Boat doesn't exactly have a great track record so far.  The evidence against Jonah is compelling and convincing.  Exhibit A: God calls Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach to God’s people there, but Jonah resists and runs away leaving skid marks in the sand. Exhibit B: Jonah doesn't just go to a yurt the next town over, he heads toward the Las Vegas of Jonah's world, Tarshish.  The place that promised to take all your troubles away with silver and gold and peacocks!  It was exotic and Jonah thought that sounds so much better than going to minister with people he saw as the enemy, as those people, the othering that we still do today.  Exhibit C: Jonah after hoping on the first boat out of dodge promptly goes into the belly of the boat and falls fast asleep.  This doesn't exactly scream of someone with a troubled conscious.  Exhibit D: Even when confront with his faithlessness, Jonah decides it is better to be tossed overboard than repent and return on a path toward Ninevah.

See?

This is not exactly the guy you want to have serving as your spiritual director.  To be sure, I have moments that fall into the category of do as I preach not as I do.  I can flee from God, thinking I am too busy, or even resist going to those people who push all my buttons.  I wonder if Jonah’s prayer, like my prayers, are a bit both and.  Both honest/heartfelt and perhaps some of the words are uttered by Jonah who just wants to get out of the belly of the whale, because it sounds like the worst hotel situation ever.  And you thought that Holiday Inn that you gave a negative review to your travel agent to was bad.  Initially, Jonah might have stubbornly stewed in that whale.  After Jonah has balanced his check book, strolled around every square inch of the stomach, written a few sermons and played countless games of Solitaire.  After those hours, I wonder if his frenzied, fleeing, fear-filled ways were suddenly slowed to the pace of his soul.  I wonder if it is then, and only then, that he actually says, "I wonder if I should try praying?"

And as funny as that is, I think there are too many moments I do exactly the same thing!  I wait until the last moment, when I am hanging by a thin thread, and when all my own resources are exhausted to consult and connect with God.  Rather than the first thing, it becomes the place of last resort.  When I hear Jonah's prayer in the whale, it makes me think of prayer practices that are meaningful for me and wonder why has it been a few weeks since I took my camera out to connect to creation and take pictures of what captures my eyes/ears/heart?  I hear Jonah's prayer and wonder why my busyness has pushed aside reading that fills my soul.  I hear Jonah's prayer and want to take a walk outside rather than just stay inside the belly of the whale known as my office.

What feeds and fuels your soul?

What prayer practices help strengthen and sustain you?

There are so many ways to connect with God.

From playing and singing along with hymns...

To sitting in silence outside...

To taking a walk...

To talking with a friend…

To writing and reading a poem...

To painting or coloring...

To reading...

To even washing dishes can even be prayerful.

Prayer is less about what we do, rather how we do it.  May this truth sit and sing to your soul with more than a trace of God's grace.

Blessings ~~