Vendors for the craft fair will begin to arrive at 8am. They will fill our parking lot with their items as they are carried into our Family Life Center and set up. It will be a morning of hustle and bustle. . . and that is before the music and food begin around 11:30am.
Already I am aware that this is going to be a full day. It will be a day of 'stretching' and 'growing' for us as much as it will be a day of caregiving to family that we are serving.
So again, a little before 7:30am, we will gather in the parking lot at Bethesda to pray.
The reason for this act of prayer can be summed up well by Heidi Nuemark. She wrote:
"Prayer is not a magic-carpet ride carrying us off to some utopia. It is an act of attention grounded here, alert to connections wherever we wait. The root of the word 'attention' is 'to stretch toward' and comes from a word meaning to stretch thread as on a loom. The connections of prayer weave their own sacred carpet, joining the varied threats of our lives one to another and to all things. The threads take color from the stains of our blood, sweat, tears, dreams, and disappointments, creating a design we cannot fully discern, but stunning even now."
Indeed prayer is stunning. . .
We will pray Saturday morning just before 7:30 to ask God to help us ground our attention in this moment. We know, and we believe, that something sacred happens when we stand together in the early morning light, hold hands, and ask God to be with us.
We do not ask God to bless us only. Instead, we place our trust in God because we believe that the plans which have been laid, and the work which is being done, is accomplished with and in His presence. And so I wonder, how might you join in the work of prayer as Heidi suggests? Can you now see the stunning beauty of your prayers before God?
Perhaps talk with God today about this see what the Lord says to you in return. . .
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