Pray Without Ceasing

Long before I was putting words on a computer monitor, I was writing them down on a piece of paper.  As long as I can remember I have been writing something one way or another.  When I went to my first pastoral appointment in Stapleton, I wrote a weekly devotional for the county newspaper.  As one who has always written a preaching manuscript, I suppose it to be true that the necessity of preaching every Sunday gave me another reason to write.  This blog in this season of my life must surely be a part of the evolution that began a life time ago.    

Like all folks who love playing with words to see how they come together, I sometimes look at an empty page unable to find a word to put on it.  Some call it "writer's block."  Whatever it is called, I run into it from time to time.  Years ago I ran into a book in which the author shared that she always prayed for divine guidance whenever she sat down to write.  It was something I often did as I prepared to preach, but had never thought about doing for everything to be written until I saw it on a page she had penned.    

Whenever I remember her advice as it applied to writing, I often think of it as advice for good living.  How much better the ends we seek to create would be if we prayed about where we were going and what we were going to do before we got started.  This applies to writing, but it also is applicable to fixing a meal, doing the dishes, cutting the grass, meeting a friend for lunch, taking a trip, or paying the bills.  If it sounds like a lot of praying, maybe it is.  Maybe it brings to mind Brother Lawrence who prayed over the dishes in the kitchen.  And, maybe, it brings to mind the verse of Scripture which says, "pray without ceasing."  (I Thessalonians 5:17)