You Can Only Give What You've Been Given/11-8-19
"The reason we are so afraid of silence and solitude is because in these spaces we confront our interior poverty. In prayer, we often participate with God through words, sentences, paragraphs composed with the desire to connect to the Creator of all things. Yet in a life of constant giving, our composed prayers seem parched from a deep dryness of self-emptying. To be silent, to be alone is the very act of being drawn into instead of being drawn from. The move from activity, that is to say from doing to being is to allow the Well Spring of Life to fill all that must be deep for a life of giving. You can only give from what you have been given. Be still and let yourself be given." Scott Erickson, artist of the images in this note. Consider this text with the above image.
“You must try to pray so that, in your prayer, you open yourself in such a way that sometimes—perhaps not today, but sometime—you are able to hear God say to you, 'I love you!' These words addressed to you by God, are the most important words you will ever hear because, before you hear them, nothing is ever completely right with you, but after you hear them, something will be right in your life at a very deep level.” Ronald Rolheiser
"If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. [The Spirit] does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, . . . and keeps us present before God." Romans 8, The Message
A friend of mine busted her ankle. I mean where the bone almost popped out of the skin. Managing the pain, unable to get around for weeks left her little energy to reach out to others, even God. Words were just too much.
Groans and sighs were all she had. As an artist, she naturally reached for images to help her connect with God. (Just like icons are used for people who can't read.) When words were too much, an image reached deeply into the place where she and the Spirit of God were already communicating. What a gift!
Would you sit with a couple of images (and maybe a few words) and allow the Spirit to keep you present before God? Simply present among your sighs and groans. No agenda. Just be still and let yourself be given. You can only give from what you have been given after all.
JUDY