Aside from set times for prayer, it is possible at any moment to express what
Anglicans neatly call ‘arrow prayers, like the one: “God give me strength”.
Which Sister Teresa recalls a cook saying when she heaved heavy pots
across the stove.
St Teresa of Avila’s ‘Book of the Foundations’ tells you:’ Remember, that the
Lord walks among the pots and pans, and that He will help you in inward
tasks and in outward ones, too.
‘Outward ones’ must then be praying for something specific, like when you
are in a mess and ask for help. That is when we really call out to God, and
He meets us then and there. The psalmist (34,6) says: ‘I was a nobody, but I
prayed, and the Lord saved me from all my troubles.’ Most people pray if
they are in trouble, and it is wonderful if you have someone to pray with you
about specific things in your life.
It is one of the beautiful things happening at St Oswald’s that Lesley-ann
offers to pray with us.
Try to give your prayers some kind of form. At the Sunday school in Cumbria
we taught the ‘hand prayer’: Hold your thumb and say ‘thank you Lord for.’,
then your second finger, which always gets cut or squashed in the door: say
‘sorry…’, then the middle finger, the tall one, for big issues in the world, then
the ring finger for the family and then the little one for ‘little me’. The Lord’s
Prayer does have a very specific form, and it is always sufficient.
The most important thing is to keep going. We have to be willing to accept
God’s answers when they come and in which form they come, they can be
‘yes’ or ‘no’. Submitting our lives to His will is really the best thing for us:
Keep going, try praying.
Brigitte Williams
(Sister Teresa wrote about prayer in ‘The Oldie’, Issue 332, March 2016)
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Scottish Episcopal Church Youth Week
24 – 30 July 2016 Glenalmond College: Perthshire
Want to do something different this summer? Come & join the fun! The
Youth Week is open to anyone in secondary education.
Enjoy a week filled with fun, fellowship, learning, and sharing – not to
mention the great activities and workshops.
Speak to Rev Lesley-ann Craddock or download an application form, which
includes full details and more information:
https://www.facebook.com/secpyc
StOM Page 13