I want to share something with you all which has come to me over the last few day.
I was thinking about the importance of prayer in life and the offices we say here in the order. I am coming to realise that prayer has to be the foundation of all we do.
A very common analogy is that life is like a river and I would like to use this to show the place of prayer.
For any river to flow smoothly and cleanly it needs two things a good river bed and strong banks. If the bed is not clear or the banks are weak then the river will flood. If the banks are too wide then the water will be shallow and the river may dry up.
All rivers need maintenance, and the sad thing most of the devastating flooding here in my State of Tabasco is due among other things to poor river maintenance
So how do we maintain our own personal rivers? I feel this is where prayer comes in. Prayer is the thing which maintains our rivers. Ask people who pray regularly. Very quickly they find a sense of calm and things just seem to flow better. Now by prayer we are not talking about “Oh God let me win the lottery” we are talking about aligning yourself to the natural flow of the universe.
Now we all know that one boulder under the water can have a huge effect on how the river flows. These boulders are like our personal issues. The problem seems to be that many people pay so much attention to the surface of the water and to what we can see that the boulders just remain. Now even the Beaver knows that to create a block you only have to start with one small thing and the natural flow of the river will bring other things to add to the growing block. What we need to do is to clear out even the things we don’t want to look at. It is impossible for your river to flow freely if you try to convince yourself that, that beaver’s dam is in fact a work of art. Buying things to cover it up also does not work. In truth the only way you can clear it is by first an honest appraisal of the situation. This is the real strength of prayer. For not only do we look at the issues truthfully we are also in touch with that great universal power which can break through any blockage.
Why not try it for yourself. Start praying and see where it takes you.
Over the next few days I will look a pray in more depth and how to do it.