A Guide To Prayer

As I mentioned before, I don't really do well with set routines or confining structures. I’m at my best when I have my choice of all the toys on the playground, as long as I know where the sandbox walls are. For Project 365, Knowing God, Becoming Myself, and Praying for Others are the sandbox walls, but the specifics of each day will have to vary if I have any chance of seeing this through for a year.

Thankfully, when it comes to Knowing God I have a lot of toys in my arsenal. Today, I turned to one of my favorite devotionals for some direction: A Guide To Prayer For Ministers And Other Servants. The book follows the weekly of the Common Lectionary and includes an Invocation, Psalm, Daily Scripture Reading, Reading For Reflection, Hymn, and Benediction. I was first assigned this book in college (which immediately made me resistant to it), but over the years I've been drawn back to the rhythm and pace it creates in devotion. I admit there have been times that I merely went through the motions of the readings, but this morning I was struck by the immensity that all over the world people were seeking Him through the same passages, praying the same invocation, and meditating on the same readings. Somehow God became so big and so small in the very same moment. It was in that moment that I found Him today; realizing that all of these people are loved by the same God, and that He longs to meet with them as eagerly as He does me. Suddenly I became so small, and so grateful. 

It was this phrase from 2 Peter 1:6 that stuck with me today, and I hope it will stick with you as we enter this new year: "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead..."