I met with my spiritual director today. In our time of prayer and reflection with God, the image came to mind of being seated among colored shards of glass. And I sensed God’s direction to let him put them together into a beautiful mosaic. How less beautiful would the work of art be without his Light to shine through it?
I don’t know how to put the broken pieces of my heart or my life together. But, I can hand them over to my Artist to make a masterpiece. The design, intention, and artisanship, of a Creator changes the useless into his glorious creation. I’m “in progress”, and when he’s done, I won’t just be mended, but I’ll be his lovely work of art.
Help me, dear God.
Do you feel like a mosaic in-progress? What places need to be mended in your life?
This Christian spiritual practice is one I grew up with. I was praying at meals since I was 3, and I remember some of those first prayers. Do you remember getting to pray for the meals as a child? It felt like an honor to be asked, as I recall.
Here’s where it gets weird. My two children (ages, almost 11 and 8 years old, respectively) seem to loath mealtime prayers, under any circumstances.
Unlike many children from praying homes, mine rebuff any offers to say the prayer at mealtime, even when they are sweetened with awesome bribes! They usually complain about mealtime prayer, despite our conversations about having our particular family tradition and its importance in our view of the world. Most often, the kids see mealtime prayers as a unpleasant obstacle preventing their nourishment. And, it seems to be worsening as time goes by.
That’s right a 30 second prayer time before meals is worse than other forms of child torture…like going to bed at 8:00, or hanging up one’s coat, or emptying the silverware from the dishwasher. I don’t get it either.
As a person who’s spent hundreds of hours researching and learning how to help people grow spiritually, this is a bit of a black eye…oh, and a punch in the gut. It’s not just a bit embarrassing to realize, but it makes me think that perhaps my children’s basic spiritual formation is compromised if these times of prayer are not meaningful and helpful when we do them. I think we could all be the worse for our failure here.
So, I’ve been speaking with my husband about how we can change things up, and enliven family prayer time to make God, and thanking God for our food more participatory, vivified, and worthwhile for all of us. I want children with grateful hearts.
I thought of some ideas, and I hope you will contribute to the mix too. I could use your ideas and advice.
Idea 1. Lighting a candle:
Kids love fire. Right? I’d like to try to light a voitive candle for each of us and read John 8:12
Then Jesus said,“I am the light of the world.The one who follows me will neverwalk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
We can then respond. “Thank you Jesus for your light in our hearts. Thank you for our meal. Amen.”
Idea 2. Maybe adding a kind of prop, visual aid, or short object lesson with our practice would make it not just a more interesting time, but will carry on in their thoughts. Then, at night when putting them to bed, we could bring it up again, for a little meditating or conversation for an evening prayer.
Idea 2. Maybe using a mixing of responsive prayers during the week could awaken us to a richer time of thanks before meals.
Prayer 1:
(lead voice) The eyes of all wait upon you, O God, (others) And you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand and fill all things living with plenteousness.
Bless, O Lord, these gifts to our use and us in your service;
relieve the needs of those in want and give us thankful hearts;
for Christ’s sake. Amen.
Prayer 2:
(lead voice) Bless us, O Lord, who bless your holy name
and by this food, feed us for your holy service.
(others) Thank you, Father and Lord. Amen.
This one could be said after meal time, to add some thankfulness “bookends” to the time together.
After meal prayer:
(lead voice) All your works praise you, O God, (others) And your faithful servants bless you.
They make known the glory of your kingdom And speak of your power.
For these and all God’s gifts and graces,
let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Other ideas:
1. We could also go around the table and thank God for something. (My kids balk at this usually.)
2. We could stand and hold hands, or change our posture during prayer, from the norm (which for us is holding hands while seated).
3. When could listen to a singing of a psalm, or worship song before the meal.
HELP! What else can be done to make mealtime prayer better?
There’s only so much you can write about fasting. The topic is starved from the start, but with this concluding post, I’ll tie together the rest of my summary on FASTING.
I should point out that I hate being hungry. Being hungry sometimes makes me get, not just grouchy, but angry. Part of why I encountered this topic publicly was to encourage myself to take on this valuable spiritual practice with more devotion. But because I enjoy the process? ….WHOA. OH NO; it’s because I see unquestionable spiritual benefits from undergoing the practice which cannot so thoroughly occur by another method.
It may produce the idea that God is obligated to do what we’d like.
May feed our control issues (Do you have starving-yourself powers or issues? Then, be careful. Gandhi (an heroic and virtuous man) didn’t do fasts, he had hunger strikes. Notice the difference.)
May intensify health ailments (Be extra cautious when fasting if you have health issues.)
What are some you can think of?
Benefits of Fasting
Prayer and worship producing
Calls our cravings into question
Useful for thwarting (great or small) neurotic thoughts or activities, vices, obsessions, and addictions.
• We learn that our cravings need not control us
• It nurtures a dependence on God.
Kinds of FASTS
1. From 1 meal
2. From Sundown to Sunrise, or Sunrise to sundown
3. From certain foods (sweets, coffee, meat, etc.)
4. From enjoyed or frequent activities (tv, internet, sports, shopping, snacking, etc.)
What fasts have you tried, or would recommend?
You may like this fasting resource: the book and guide for individual, and group fasts, called Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer L. Towns.
Please leave any of your guide books or fasting recommendations in the comment section, if you have them.
useful guide for fasting
What will you do?
Will you commit to fast at least once per month?
Which type of fast (or fasts) makes sense for you?
What would you like to pray about during your fast?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my favorite Christian figures of the 20th Century.
7:37 min of the Knock at Midnight sermon:
“He promised NEVER to leave me alone.”
Each year I try to post on something about his work and mission. I refer you to my previous tribute posts here and here.
These posts include his thoughts, quotes, a famous prayer, and an extended quote on “loving ones enemies”. All quite inspiring, so please enjoy them, as you remember this Christian brother who lived out his core Christian convictions on social justice, and maintained the highest level of ethical devotion.
To fix your mind on what is good, and right is counter-cultural. It’s much easier to get a laugh at someone else’s expense, to find something smug or snide to say, to look for the negative in circumstances or other people, and to grow cynical. But doing that changes us. It spiritually forms us into a malformation. Then our aim, and our work in this world is badly compromised and less effectual. MLK is a model for us to live out such ideals–even to die for them.
Today, co-opt with these thoughts. Thoughts close to this pastor and leader in the American Civil Rights movement–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Ingest them and emulate them. Thank you for reading.
Philippians 4:8
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (NLT)
Also-American King James Version
Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
It’s not so much a matter of who we are, but who we belong to.
This poem was written by a man who would soon die at the hands of his Nazi captors. At the end of his life, he could question who he was, and who he had been, but his resolution to all of that rests in Theological principle, in worldview.
