Originally published via WordPress: 22 November 2021 |Amended and Republished: 3 April 2023 Holy Week
I love the trinity of prayer, praxis, and patience!
Speaking as a person of (Christian) faith, each of these are important along the journey of (my) life, and all are interconnected. Prayer reminds me that I am not alone or on my own as I navigate life’s complexities and uncertainties; I am in a relationship with the Creator and Source of all being, the One in who I live and move and have my being (cf. Acts 17:28). In prayer, I follow the example of Jesus Christ, who encourages me to set aside the time, in private quietness and without pretension and posturing, to be with and talk with God, who sees and listens and participates (Matthew 6:6).
Praxis takes me from the quiet closet back into the visible and hurly-burly spaces of the world, to be the ‘salt of the earth,’ and the ‘light of the world.’ (Matthew 6:14). In prayer, God sees; in praxis, the world is invited to see.
Patience is the invitation to ‘wait,’ that between ‘prayer’ and ‘praxis’ is my active trusting that my prayers in the presence of God, and my actions out in the world have the power and promise of outcomes that are in God’s hands, ultimately, and for good. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NRSV)
The priceless power and promise of prayer
Henri Nouwen reminds me of the priceless power and promise of prayer:
“Why should I spend an hour in prayer when I do nothing during that time but think about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read, and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that happen to grab my mind for a moment? The answer is: because God is greater than my mind and my heart and what is really happening in the house of prayer is not measurable in terms of human success and failure. What I must do first of all is to be faithful. If I believe that the first commandment is to love God with my whole heart, mind, and soul, then I should at least be able to spend one hour a day with nobody else but God.
The question as to whether it is helpful, useful, practical, or fruitful is completely irrelevant since the only reason to love is love itself. Everything else is secondary. The remarkable thing, however, is that sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morning—day after day, week after week, month after month—in total confusion and with myriad distractions radically changes my life. God, who loves me so much that he sent his only son not to condemn me but to save me, does not leave me waiting in the dark too long. I might think that each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety such useless hours, I gradually realize that I was not as alone as I thought; a very small, gentle voice has been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place. So, be confident and trust in the Lord.”
Source: Henri Nouwen Society| Daily Meditation, “Why Pray?”|20 November 2021
When I pray…
My prayers are overflows of my heart,
They are bearers of my inner soul,
On the wings of breath,
The inhale and the exhale,
The ordinary and the extraordinary,
The human and divine,
The inconstancy and eulogy,
The fears and hopes,
The doubts and faith,
The sorrows and joys,
The hesitancy and anticipation,
The energetic and languid,
The bearable, unbearable softness of being,
The intermingling of grandeur and paltriness;
I pray with deep-felt gratitude,
An outpouring of thankfulness
And appreciation for what is,
For the stuff of this life,
In all its plethora and splendour;
Here, I know and feel,
The awe of Omniscience,
The miracle of Majesty,
The serenity of Presence,
The comfort of Embrace,
The touches of Grace,
The acceptance of Forgiveness,
The reservoirs of Possibility,
The sacred streams of replenishing peace and joy;
I pray in fervent, flawed requests,
For the simple things,
And the complex stuff of life,
The menu often brims,
Often meagre and sparse,
Recently, there is a filling up,
With the overwhelming crises,
And assaults and relentless floods,
Almost drowning mind and soul,
The inescapability of the tragedy,
The turmoil and the trauma
Everywhere, and seeping in and soaking everything;
I sense my prayers are resonating,
Inward and outward, for healing and for change;
What I pray is bold and fragile,
There is certainty and confusion,
My tongue is an easy bearer at times,
Though the heart speaks silently and solemnly,
Vibrational beatings of compassion and courage,
In a language that words need not repeat,
I can trust and let them go,
Surrendering to the One,
The infinite Good, Beauty, and Truth,
The Essence and Surety of All being,
In humble posture, I find the Suffering One,
Who feels with intimacy the dis-ease and the death;
I see also the smiling face of the Resurrected One,
Who promises healing and the victory!
© Roger Arendse 20200404
Patience
And so, in Patience, with Wisdom, I have this deep inner knowing that God sees, God hears, and God acts; and I can continue to offer myself as a humble, purposeful, prayerful, and praxis-oriented person of faith in the midst of a challenged and challenging world. My being is easily trapped in distraction My impulsive doing has too much haste, I want to push on from where I am, To arrive where I think the grass is greener. The circumstances of life can easily unsettle, Too quickly, I’m flustered to the core of being, There is annoyance, anxiety, and wanton action, I resist what is here for what I believe must be. Pressures bubble up within, without, I rush to ease the frothing strains, I want change right now without delay, I cannot bear to sit and wait. Patience is not a passive waiting, Patience leans in with a fuller acceptance, Present reality has messages to deliver, I slow down long enough to listen in. Patience graces me with an inner pause, Here I stand with a grounded poise, In this moment, I reconnect with breath, My life energy is allowed to freely flow. In patience with the trouble and the tedium, I open to the lessons that they teach, In solidarity with the suffering world, I embrace compassion and long-suffering. Patience is a gift of true wisdom, Each brings alignment as I journey on, Their promise is my growth into maturity, I dare to let them in and guide the way. © Roger Arendse 20200508
Reflection Exercise
How do you describe the practice of prayer?
What role does prayer play in your life right now?
How would you describe the relationship between prayer, praxis, and patience?