Wednesday Wonder – February 5, 2025

Are you a planner? Being organized and having things planned is something I strive for, although it doesn’t always happen.

This time of year, I am usually looking at the calendar thinking about all the planning needed for Lent and Easter. Then I keep looking and think about the rest of the spring. This inevitably leads me to starting to muse on the fall and that leads to thinking about Advent and Christmas. And you guessed it, in the end nothing gets done because there are far too many ideas running around to properly capture and corral.

Sometimes my life, in general, goes like this. Planning, looking ahead, and before you know it, nothing has been planned, decided, or done. Lots of thought, little action.

Our spiritual lives can get like this too. Part of the reason I claim to want to be planned ahead, is so I get everything done that needs to be done, or that I want to get done. So often, I want to get in more prayer time, or Bible reading time, or gratitude journaling done, but it gets lost in the hopes and plans stage.

What I have discovered is that sometimes, not being planned works better. The creative flow is better when I let the Spirit blow when and where it may. Sometimes, the best prayer time, or reading time, or gratitude time, is the little pockets in my days when nothing is planned.

Prayer, especially, fits in even the smallest free moment. While standing in line at the check out, while sitting waiting in the doctor’s office, while at the stoplight, these are all times we could pray. Prayer does not have to be a formal, head bowed, eyes closed kind of thing. Prayer is a conversation with God. You can just start talking, out loud even, any time, any place. Well, maybe not out loud in public. That gets you strange looks. Prayer can be done silently as well.

Remember the story of Hannah? The priest, Eli, thinks she is drunk because her mouth is moving but he can’t hear any sound. The tradition was that you prayed out loud in the temple. That means others could hear your prayers. We don’t always want others to hear our prayers. Besides, prayer is meant to be a conversation with God, not with anyone else.

I have been known to even text God, if you will. I keep a note open on my phone where I can add thoughts I want to not just share with God, but remind myself about. Sometimes, I sense an answer from God, this is a conversation after all, and I make a note of what I ‘heard’. Praying silently may lead us to the listening part of the conversation more easily. Listening for God’s response can be difficult at times. God doesn’t always answer right away. A bit like that person who doesn’t respond to your text until hours later. I have a friend who can take days to respond to a text. Drives me crazy. Despite the lag time, she always just picks up the conversation where it left off. God does the same.

This year, as I was thinking about Lent (and yes, I do have most of it planned already), I thought about making prayer my intentional Lenten practice. Maybe you would like to join me in that. I would supply a prompt for each day of Lent. No set time that praying needs to be done, but just some time each day. Those who wish could meet with me for a few minutes early on Sunday mornings before worship to pray together. I am planning to write a prayer each day. Nothing fancy, and not necessarily something I would want to share with everyone, but since I like to journal, it might be an interesting idea. Praying with my pen.

There are still four weeks before Lent begins. We can all start thinking and planning for it now. If, after consideration, you would like to join me in a prayer practice, let me know. Together we can deepen our Lenten journey. And who knows, we might even choose to share some of our prayers with the rest of the congregation as we journey together.

Peace,
Rev. Mary-Jane