I have just read an interesting article on the BBC News website about the disconnect between us as human beings and the natural world. It’s an interesting read and you can find it here:

Biodiversity - a kind of washing powder?

It brought to mind another disconnect that I was considering earlier in the week – the disconnect between humankind and the spiritual world – or to phrase it differently our disconnect with our own souls. If you doubt this disconnect, then go out into a busy town centre on a Saturday night – or preferably, watch one of the police television programmes where you can be a fly on the wall. Safer that way!

So, is there any way of addressing this disconnect? Well, one of the exciting programmes on British television at the moment is The Big Silence, which is the story behind a group of ordinary people being introduced to silence and, in particular, to an eight day silent retreat. The retreat is based at the delightful North Wales Retreat Centre of St Beuno’s. I know it’s delightful because I have spent time there myself – and will no doubt do so again – seeking the stillness and ‘God-centredness’ of this special place.

You can catch the episodes you may have missed on the BBC iplayer and the final episode occurs on November 5th 2010.

Silence is tha main way in which we can do something about our disconnect with our own souls and I love the description of silence as the ‘doorway to our soul’ and the soul as the ‘doorway to God’.

One way you might give silence a try is to do the following short exercise.

Put aside five minutes and turn off your phones, computers, and other things that might disturb you.

Find a comfortable place to sit, stand or lie, depending on your inclination (but remember the purpose of this is not actually to sleep!)

Spend a minute making yourself comfortable, closing your eyes and concentrating on your in-breaths and out-breaths.

Relax your body.

Now remember this fact – God is in every part of our world, so God is there with you, whether you can sense that or not.

And now for a few minutes imagine this God who is with you actually looking at you – simply looking at you.

And you simply look at God, who is looking at you.


… Looking at God, looking at you…


Finish by speaking to God what is there in your heart.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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I have just read this quote again recently, but now can't remember where! So to the person who brought it back to my attention - I give you thanks.

Pedro Arrupe was a Jesuit priest who died in 1991 and for many years was the Superior General of the Jesuit order - the Society of Jesus. He allied the Jesuits firmly with the fight against injustice, particularly in South America, and consequently was associated with the growth of liberation theology. Because of this he came in for criticism from the Vatican, although he was highly regarded by others, even being described as 'a second Ignatius'.

Reading this once more has made me realise that I have been neglecting to write about Ignatian spirituality in recent months, even though it is the style of spirituality that I relate most closely to. So - coming up - more on Ignatian prayer and lifestyle!

In the meantime, here is Pedro Arrupe's beautiful quote often called 'Fall in Love' or 'Falling in Love'. Sink yourself in this - is it true about your relationship with God?

Fall in Love

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.

Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

My apologies for the lack of posts recently - I have had some pressing family issues to deal with. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

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I was talking to a friend recently about Lectio Divina and mentioned how I like to use the image of having a piece of chocolate in my mouth and letting it melt slowly - savouring each moment. His response? 'I think I'll imagine it with single malt whisky!' Now, there's a thought!

If you don't know what Lectio Divina is and would like a simple set of instructions (including the chololate bit), then try this. If you're a seasoned expert(!) then please read on...

The story of Jacob wrestling with a man/angel/God at the Ford of Jabbok has, in the past, moved me very deeply. It is a inspiring reading for the Lenten season and so I am suggesting that you read it using this method of Lectio Divina. Lectio is a way of praying the scriptures rather than studying the scriptures, so take a little time first to find a quiet, comfortable spot and to still your body and mind as much as possibke.

Remember - read the passage slowly a couple of times, then dwell on the part that speaks to you the most.

Jacob, having years before shamelessly swindled his brother Esau, is about to meet him again for the first time since the debacle. He is nervous and unsure of what sort of welcome he will receive. So he plans a little party of people to go ahead and 'soften' his brother's heart with gifts. After they leave, he settles down to sleep....

From Genesis 32

He instructed the foremost, ‘When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, “To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?” then you shall say, “They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.” ’ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, ‘You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, and you shall say, “Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.” ’ For he thought, ‘I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.’ So the present passed on ahead of him; and he himself spent that night in the camp.

The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’

Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

What was going on for Jacob during that night, that dream, that vision. Guilt? Struggle for acceptance? For self-acceptance?

Perhaps the Anchor Bible Dictionary summarises it well in suggesting that the ‘unnamed man symbolizes every person with whom Jacob struggled — Esau, Isaac, Laban — and yet, the man at the beginning of the story is certainly God at the end…. The story, therefore, in an overt polyvalence, blends Jacob’s conflict with people and with God into one event.’

Every person with whom he struggled should also, of course, include himself.

May God's blessing be upon and within you this Lent.

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In the eleventh century Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote this prayer. It is a beautiful call to prayer which you can use in your own time of quiet meditation.

After reading the prayer, I suggest that you take the last two lines (or part of them) and use those words reflectively. Perhaps repeating them in time with your breathing - to allow yourself to move into a closer awareness of God - the God who surrounds and sustains you even when you are not conscious of the divine presence.

Come now, little one,
turn aside for a while
from your daily employment,
escape for a moment
from the tumult of your thoughts.
Put aside your weighty cares,
let your burdensome distractions wait,
free yourself awhile for God
and rest awhile in him.
Enter the inner chamber of your soul,
shut out everything except God
and that which can help you in seeking him.
And when you have shut the door, seek God.

Now, my whole heart, say to God,
'I seek your face, Lord,
it is your face I seek.'

Sometimes I imagine my inner life as a house - a house in which I dwell and in which God enters and lives alongside me. The doors, the windows, the view, are all significant to me. Anselm's words 'enter the inner chamber of your soul', put me in mind of this prayer picture I sometimes use. Perhaps some of you also pray like this occasionally?

If you are interested, I have written more about Anselm here.

The words are modified from the prayer in the Lion book, A Prayer Treasury.
 

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This is a prayer taken from the writings of Hildegard of Bingen. It shows her holistic view of the world and our place in it. There is no 'dualism' here that separates body from spirit - we are a whole - our body worships God as well as our mind and our spirit.

A definite antidote to St Augustine!

A Prayer of Awareness

God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honors and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.

Hildegard of Bingen

From: Interfaith Declarations and Worship Observance Resources; The North American Conference on Religion and Ecology.
This prayer was used for Earth Day, 1990

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Here is a lovely old Celtic blessing which I found on this site. It is both very simple and very profound.

I think the first line is particularly deep - there is something of God in all things calm and serene. We can reach out and 'touch' that calm when we come across it - and we can reach and touch God in the peace and quietness of silence.

If you are one of those people who are frightened or wary of silence, take this simple prayer with you into just five minutes of silence. Read it silently and dwell on the part that speaks to you most. And I pray that you will be enfolded in the presence of God and the serenity of God's spirit.

Old Irish Blessing

You are the peace of all things calm
You are the place to hide from harm
You are the light that shines in dark
You are the heart's eternal spark
You are the door that's open wide
You are the guest who waits inside
You are the stranger at the door
You are the calling of the poor
You are my Lord and with me still
You are my love, keep me from ill
You are the light, the truth, the way
You are my Saviour this very day.

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Gerard Manley Hopkins was a Jesuit priest and poet who lived during the latter half of the nineteenth century and became, after his death, one of the leading poets of the Victorian era. His style was innovative and unusual for that time, experimenting with rhythm, word structure and imagery.

I was introduced to his poetry at school and instantly fell in love with it - particularly with what seemed to me a freedom and playfulness with words. In later life, going on retreats to St Beuno's, I learnt more of his varied and fascinating life, of his depressions (which struck a chord with me) and his struggles to hold in tension his poetry and his Jesuit life.

This is one of my favourites of his poems:

God's Grandeur
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

To get the full effect, read the poem out loud (even if you are on your own!). It can become a prayer of poignant praise.

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Timeless!

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

Sarum Primer, 1558

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Here is a beautiful passage from Luke's gospel to be used for 'praying the scriptures' using the method known as Lectio Divina.

If you don't know about this way of praying then here is some information to get you started: How to do Lectio Divina

Now try it with this passage from Luke's gospel containing the words of Jesus.

Luke 11:9-13

So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Thanks be to God.

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I was talking to a friend yesterday who mentioned that she had recently gained a great deal from reading Psalm 40 in a modern translation. The conversation reminded my of a book I occasionally dip into for a new and up-to-date look at the psalms. It is Psalms Now by Leslie F. Brandt.

Psalms Now is not a translation but a paraphrase. Brandt has reworded the psalms for clarification - in this case, to put them in language that can be applied in our modern world. You may not like this way of reading the Bible, but for many it brings the scriptures to life. Other modern Biblical paraphrases are The Living Bible and The Message.

As a taster, here is part of Psalm 40 from Psalms Now:

I searched long and shouted loud for God.
It finally paid off. He responded.
He reached into my pathetic emptiness
and planted objective and purpose.
Now I feel like singing;
there is genuine meaning in my life.
And I can tell others about the
prominent place God holds in my heart....

....Our God is not looking for genius;
He does not require great talent.
He is not charmed by our panic-ridden activity.
He simply asks for our faith and our obedience.
It is when He turned me from self-seeking
to follow His will for my life
that I discovered serenity and security....

....I still feel overwhelmed at times
by my faults and fallibilities.
I am disturbed and distressed
when others fail to understand or accept me.
I need to rely on the grace of God....

....As for me, foolish and sinful though I am
I know that God will never cease to love me.

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I wonder if you have ever tried to read any of the Christian Classics - books written by the early Church Fathers and by later Christians that have been handed down through the centuries as worthy of our time and effort.

If not, one you might like to try, as one of your first, 'The Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence. Or if that seems daunting, you could start with a simple, modern presentation of his teaching in thirty daily meditations: 'Living in the Presence of God'.

Brother Lawrence was born Nicolas Herman in 1614 and brought up in a small village in Lorraine, Eastern France. He fought in the Thirty Years War, worked as a valet, and in his mid-twenties entered the Discalced Carmelite religious order in Paris as a lay brother - not having the 'right' background to actually take clerical orders. He spent most of his life working in the monastery kitchens and later, as he was getting older, mending sandals.

Brother Lawrence learned and taught about acknowledging and experiencing the presence of God even in the most mundane of everyday tasks - and he certainly had plenty of experience of those! He became known as a man of wisdom and was sought out for his spiritual guidance.

Here are a few of Brother Lawrence's quotes from Living in the Presence of God:

You can turn to God with absolute confidence, bringing to him all your failures and sorrows. Your God is infinitely generous.

He alone can make himself known as he really is. But we go on searching in philosophy and science, preferring, it seems, a poor copy to the original that God himself paints in the depths of our souls.

Your holiness does not depend on doing 'other' things, but in doing for God's sake what you would otherwise normally do for your own sake.

The grace of Brother Lawrence and the simplicity and depth of his spirituality have remained attractive throughout the centuries. In his Maxims he writes:

Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.

Practising the presence of God transformed Brother Lawrence and it can transform each of us today.

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Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia in 1910 and is of Albanian descent. She joined an Irish community, the Sisters of Loreto, when she was eighteen and after being trained, was sent to a convent in Calcutta.

She was very moved by the poverty she saw there and, when she was thirty-eight, she was given permission to cease her work in the convent school and work directly with the most poor in the slums, developing an outdoor school. Over time, she was joined by other helpers and when she was forty, she received permission from the Pope to found her own order - the Missionaries of Charity - caring for the most poor in society.

She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and her missionary order now flourishes throughout the world. A more detailed biography can be read on the Nobel Prize website.

The following words are reported to have been found on the wall of Mother Teresa's Children's Home, Shishu Bhavan, in Calcutta and/or on a wall of her home. They are now closely linked with her.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

These words are a modification of The Paradoxical Commandments - written by Dr. Kent Keith in 1968 to encourage and guide other student leaders.

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This is the third of four posts during Holy Week 2009 featuring peoms by R S Thomas.

The poem that Andrew Rudd has chosen for today - Wednesday in Holy Week, 2009 - is one called 'The Hand'.

The Hand

It was a hand. God looked at it
and looked away. There was a coldness
about his heart, as though the hand
clasped it. As at the end
of a dark tunnel, he saw cities
the hand would build, engines
that it would raze them with. His sight
dimmed. Tempted to undo the joints
of the fingers, he picked it up.
But the hand wrestled with him. "Tell
me your name," it cried, "and I will write it
in bright gold. Are there not deeds
to be done, children to make, poems
to be written. The world
is without meaning, awaiting
my coming." But God, feeling the nails
in his side, the unnerving warmth
of the contact, fought on in
silence. This was the long war with himself
always foreseen, the question not
to be answered. What is the hand
for? The immaculate conception
preceding the delivery
of the first tool? “I let you go,”
he said, “but without blessing.
Messenger to the mixed things
Of your making, tell them I am.”

Some of you, like me, may find this a difficult poem. I suggest you read it again before reading my thoughts below. Once more, I was unable to make the service in Holy Week where Andrew led the thoughts on this poem, so I am unable to summarise his words. But here are some of mine.

I had to read this poem a few times before, in any way, getting to grips with it. I then continued to reflect on it during yesterday. The progress of my thoughts followed this pattern:

1. Incomprehension. Struggle. What is the hand?
   
2. The hand signifies mankind (I am supposed to say 'humankind' here!). God is struggling with knowing the consequences of creation.
   
3. The hand signifies God's own creative instinct. God struggles with the consequences of God's own creativity, which is leading towards the creation of a being in God's image and, therefore, with a creative instinct of its own.

Perhaps you have other thoughts? And what about 'without blessing'. I wonder what was going through Thomas's mind when he wrote that?

Enjoy your reflections.

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This is the second of four posts during Holy Week 2009.

The poem that Andrew Rudd had chosen for today - Tuesday in Holy Week, 2009 - is one called 'The Coming'. I was unable to attend the service where he gave his reflection so I cannot share the gist of his thoughts with you. However, I can share mine!

I find this an amazing poem - one that causes an intake of my breath whenever I read it. Probably because, each time that I do read it, I get another small glimpse into the nature of divine love. Sometimes those glimpses are fleeting - just when you think you have grasped something, it slips from your understanding. But you are always left with the memory of that revelation - the revelation that there is something greater, more encompassing, far more incomprehensible that we can ever imagine.

So I leave you with the poem by R S Thomas:

The Coming

And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look he said.
The son looked. Far off,
As through water, he saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour. The light burned
There; crusted buildings
Cast their shadows: a bright
Serpent, a river
Uncoiled itself, radiant
With slime.

On a bare
Hill a bare tree saddened
The sky. Many people
Held out their thin arms
To it, as though waiting
For a vanished April
To return to its crossed
Boughs. The son watched
Them. Let me go there, he said.

Many blessings.

Monday in Holy Week

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A short while ago I wrote a post on this blog about intercessory prayer. In it, I talked of the three areas of this type of prayer that seemed to be of interest:

• Who/what to pray for?
• How to pray for them?
• Why pray for them?

That particular post talked about 'Who/what to pray for'. Well, this is the second of the three and I'm thinking about 'How we pray for people/situations.' Those of you who find this area very easy might well be thinking, 'How? What does she mean, how? You just do it!' Ah, I wish it were so simple for me. And so, for any others who struggle with this area, here are three ways I have discovered to help.

This first way is the method I often use myself - it involves visualisation:

Once you are quiet and still in prayer, imagine God's hands held out in a cupped manner. Then (you have to be a bit Gulliver-ish here) think of the person or people you wish to bring before God in prayer. Imagine they are small enough to sit or lie in God's cupped hands and picture them there. I like to imagine them peacefully sleeping there.

Next visualise placing your own hands round God's hands and just allow yourself to feel... to feel whatever it is you do feel - compassion, love, perplexity, sadness - whatever is there inside you. And speak to God about what is on your heart and mind about the person/persons.

Then let the mental picture fade, before moving on to the next person or situation you wish to pray for.

Lighting candles is another way that people sometimes pray for others. These sorts of candles are called votive candles. Maybe you're not familiar with a church which has a votive candlestand available. But if you are reading this, then you do have access to use an on-line version. OK - not quite the same effect - but it can be means of focussing your thoughts and spending some time praying for someone. Try it at this site:
Light a candle
or, if you wish the person to know you are praying for them you could try this one:
Post a prayer

A third suggestion is to use posture to help you. Instead of sitting or kneeling (or lying for those of us who like to go to sleep praying!) try standing. Intercession is partly about representing the person before God. Stand before God, open to God, and speak your prayer out loud.


And may God bless you as you intercede.

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I have just had a very busy week - but my mind kept coming back to my blog - even when it should have been on other things! I think I am getting addicted!

But busyness has its penalties and, as a result, I am a little short on material at the moment. So I thought I would share with you a poem I have recently read. I love the writings of Edwina Gateley. My previous spiritual director pointed me in her direction, so I'm 'passing it on'.

This poem, called Train, can be found in her book Growing into God
ISBN 1-58051-080-9.

Train

Sitting on the subway train
shuddering its way
through the city of Chicago,
I saw the gang graffiti,
defiant and bold,
painted on the warehouse walls -
words of anger and violence -
screaming at the blank eyes
of innocent passengers
mindlessly staring out
through grubby windows.
And there,
in bright red,
surrounded by gang symbols,
four words stood large and bold:
"I LOVE YOU, MAMA."
My heart grieved
for unspoken story,
for the angry son who,
in the midst
of an act of rage,
remembered he loved him mama
and needed to tell
the world.
I hurt for his mama
the other woman,
who wept and prayed
that her son, so well beloved,
would be safe,
that her God,
ridiculously,
miraculously,
would raise him up
whole and healed.
And in the train, rocking,
I dreamed with her,
that God slipped through
graffitied walls and,
hot with a mother's love,
plucked up
and raised so high,
so gloriously,
the son
she loved so well.

 
 

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Wikipedia contains a useful article on Lectio Divina.

The only 'nit' I would 'pick' with it is that it talks about putting aside a time of one hour each day to pray in this way. Now, that seems to me OK for nuns and monks, but for your common-or-garden working wo/man that appears to be a trifle ambitious!

But let's look at what Wikipedia says. It talks about how the method of Lectio Divina has traditionally been described as having four parts: Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio and Contemplatio. All of these together making a "Feast on the Word".

So now you see why chocolate is particularly appropriate! This is how I see it in, er - well, chocolatey terms -

Lectio
Reading the passage: taking a lovely bite of the chocolate - nice and slowly...m.m.m.m....

Meditatio
Mulling over part of the passage: letting that wonderful chocolate melt deliciously and slowly in your mouth!

Oratio
Opening to God in a conversation: telling God how fabulous his chocolate is - then moving on to an intimate chat.

Contemplatio
Loving, wordless focus on God: just resting with God with that lovely 'satisfied' post-chocolate feeling!

Would you like to try it with another passage? Perhaps Psalm 23?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

Peace be with you.

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"The Christian life should resemble a fruit tree, not a Christmas tree.' - John Stott



I’d like you to humour me and imagine yourself as a tree – a fruit tree, in fact. Now you may find the idea ridiculous or perplexing - but why not just humour me for a few moments and try it out?

You are a fruit tree and you have just finished blossoming and now you are actually in fruit. I wonder what sort of fruit tree you have decided that you are? Are you an apple, a pear, a plum? Or something more exotic? I’m sure Freud would have a field day with our choices – but that’s not why I have suggested this little flight of fancy. No, I'd like to suggest that you use this image as a springboard for a prayerful meditation.

Because I'm not present to read this to you, you will need to read the following block of text through once or twice to get the idea and then I suggest you close your eyes and just picture it - let your imagination fly!

Imagine you are a fruit tree in God’s garden.
It’s early morning – the sun has risen and is bathing everything with a lovely glow.
Jesus walks into the garden and you see him as he walks along slowly, stopping to look at his plants and trees.
Then - oh - he is looking at you! Your leaves are a golden-green in the sunshine. You look healthy and you are bearing young fruit in your branches.
Jesus smiles at you and you feel his loving attention, his pleasure in you, his delight in you.
Listen now… Jesus is saying something to you.
Be quiet and listen to what he says.

Try not to read this next bit until you have done the meditation above!

Now you are yourself again - no longer a tree - but we've not finished yet. Just give your imagination one more work-out!

This time, imagine that you - as yourself - are walking in God’s garden with Jesus – companionably and contentedly browsing round the garden.
You both stop before a fruit tree.
Its leaves are a golden-green in the sunshine.
It looks very healthy and it is bearing young fruit in its branches.
You smile at Jesus and you talk together about the tree.
Be still for a moment and imagine your conversation with Jesus.

You might perhaps finish by thanking God for the time you have just spent - not washing up, not doing work, but just relaxing in God's presence.

If this way of praying feels strange to you, don't worry - using the imagination in prayer is an age-old method.

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