All In

Thich Nhat Hanh once said

as we sat listening to him under the spreading boughs

of an ancient tree in the Boston Common

 

the practice of mindfulness requires only that whatever you do

you do with your whole self

 

100%

 

walk mindfully

pay attention to the feel of the ground beneath your feet

the sound of your shoes on the snow

the beauty of the world around you

 

eat mindfully

listen mindfully

love mindfully

 

I think perhaps that prayer is mindful attention

to the sacred

 

I have wondered at times how Paul could ever suggest

that we pray without ceasing

 

but if prayer is mindfulness of Sacred

paying attention to God

 

that can make a beautiful kind of sense

 

perhaps prayer is more than the words we say

or the thoughts we think

perhaps it is a way of living

 

perhaps is sitting, standing, walking

in divine presence

 

delighting in

turning to

God in every moment

 

walking with God

carrying on the inane but profound chatter of lovers

 

“Oh, wow, that is beautiful”

“Did you see that !!?”

“I love you”

“What do you think about this?”

“I need help!”

 

perhaps it is learning to live in the “now” of God

perhaps it is not drinking from the fountain of sacred presence

when we are parched

 

but is more a matter of jumping into the spring

and being carried away

by the flow

of everlasting love

 

carried through our days

surrounded

embraced by love

 

perhaps prayer is less about what we are doing for, or to, God

but is more a matter of paying attention

to what God is doing for us

 

less a matter of what we give to God

and more a matter of what God is giving us

 

and uttering

with almost every step we take

Amen