Who Picks Up the Slack?

~~~ Romans 8:26-30 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Luke 13:22-30 ~~~

 

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought...

I find this writing of Saint Paul to be very encouraging.
Most of the time I hear concerns about a person's prayer life.
They wonder if they are praying correctly or enough
or if they have the right words.
Oddly enough most of the time we are using too many words.

Paul is telling us not to worry; instead
we should trust that the Spirit will pray on our behalf.
The Spirit of God has the words.
Our greater goal during prayer is to be present
to the presence of God. Whatever is lacking
in our ability to pray the Spirit makes up the difference.

By opening our heart the Spirit itself can pray inside for us.
Sometimes I like to visualize what that might look like
 or even what it might feel like.

It is with hope that we can allow the Spirit
to pick up the slack in our prayers.
We have a tendency to avoid letting
God know just how vulnerable we are concerning our prayers.

God does not ask for a perfect prayer.
He does asks for us to let him love us.
He wants us to let him embrace us.
So much can be conveyed with an embrace.

If there is the perfect prayer perhaps it has no words. 

 

 

  We know that all things work for good for those who love God...

 

God does make good from the many fractured parts of our world.
We miss some of this good because
we are not paying attention.
We may miss some of what God is doing in our own life,
because it is not what we wanted. 

 

 I cannot imagine not loving God,
but I can imagine questioning if he does make
 all things work for good.

 Intellectually I get it but when
I look at our world today I have my doubts.

 

Perhaps we do not love God enough.
Maybe this is why we have our doubts
about his ability to make all things work for good. 

 

 Blessings come in trusting
 that where my prayer is lacking the Spirit fills in for me.

 

 Lord, teach me to love you more.