Joining The Stream

Decided from yesterday onwards to read "Prayer" by Philip Yancey all over again... and to pray to Daddy God as I read each chapter every day... and it was good...

Philip was at the source of a stream on top of a mountain, seeing how the stream is formed, joining with other rivulets and flowing downhill.

...thinking about prayer, most of the time I get the direction wrong. I start downstream with my own concerns and bring them to God. I inform God as if God did not already know. I plead with God, as if hoping... to overcome divine reluctance. Instead, I should start upstream where the flow begins.

When I shift direction, I realised that God already cares about my concerns...more than I do. Grace, like water, desends to the lowest part. Streams of mercy flow. I begin with God, who bears primary responsibility for what happens on earth, and ask what part I can play in God's work on earth...

With this new starting point in prayer, my perceptions change... Thanksgiving and praise surge up as a natural response, not an obligation.

Indeed, as i tried this, "thanksgiving and praise surged up" from within me. hee.