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The Pause That Refreshes:
Listening Prayer, Part 1
God Nuggets, Issue 28
"In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength . how long will you not be quiet? Withdraw.be at rest, and stay still." - Isaiah 30:15
 So often when we pray, it's a one-way communication stream. We offer praise and thanks; we ask for guidance and support; we share our hopes and fears; we vent about our problems and frustrations . All those words, all that energy going out to God - whew! It's a lot of work keeping a conversation going all by ourselves!
And just when a pause would be in order - to rest in the quiet of God's response - we end our prayer and move on to other activities. What would life be like if in all our encounters with others, we talked to them, but never stayed around to listen to their responses? Such a practice would make many of life's tasks pretty challenging. We wouldn't get much done, and we wouldn't have very satisfying relationships.
In listening prayer, we have a different intention than praising God for our lives or telling God about our lives, or even experiencing God in our lives. Those are all valid reasons for prayer, but let's face it: they usually have an "I, me, mine" context. With listening prayer, the agenda is to "be at rest, and stay still." Period. Let God decide if anything needs to be said -- or not.
Through the "quietness and trust" of listening prayer, we really can let go into God - really rest in the heart of divinity. The result is less talk, more communion. In the "being with," we touch the peaceful strength that stillness reveals within us - and over time, begin to experience this strength and stillness as a continuous current running through our life. By pausing in prayer to listen, we refresh our awareness of God.
Next Month's Issue: Listening Prayer, Part 2: The Art of Staying Still
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