Photo by: Justin BowmanI heard a prayer today. I'm not being condescending towards this person, it's just that a word stood out in that person's prayer today that struck me as something that I've heard said all of my life, yet didn't listen to and think about until now.
The prayer:
Help us to learn to worship you regardless of what's going on in our lives.
That one word stuck out like bold print on a white background:) I thought about what this was truly communicating (although to be fair, I'm not sure that what was said was what was meant... sometimes people aren't as cognitive of words and meaning as we should be). To be clear, I know the person meant well in his prayer.
REGARDLESS: (Wiktionary)
1) Having no regard
2) Actioned in a way which shows no consideration for a subject or the status of a situation.
3) Paying no attention to.
I think God has consideration towards the things in our lives. I don't think it is realistic to have no regard towards the things weighing on your life... in fact, I my personal belief is that God wants us to see him in the midst of all aspects of our lives (positive and negative).
I think that there is a lot of dualistic mentality about worship. Like I said, I'm not sure that this is what this person was ACTUALLY trying to say, but I HAVE heard people pray and say things about leaving what's bothering us outside the door in order for us to be able to worship. Does life/reality keep us from worshipping? Do we need to check reality/our lives at the door in order to "learn to worship"?
I think what the person meant to say (in the context of the theme/topic for today) was something like this:
Help us to learn to worship you even in the midst of the things going on in our lives.
or
Teach us to how to find/practice worship in all things in our lives.
I think that this is a more Biblical and practical goal.... but a MUCH harder thing to learn and put into practice. We shouldn't, and CAN'T put aside what's going on in our own lives in order to "do worship", since worship isn't an event but the attitude in which we approach life. Therefore, the REAL challenge is bringing worship into the situations in which we find ourselves each day.
I've heard many of the same things in my life and you bring up a good point about letting God be in every aspect of our life not just what we want him involved in. We may not always word things correctly but we know and He knows what we are trying to say. Good Thoughts.
ReplyDeleteNeal
I was able to talk at a camp a week ago for the High School youth group. During one of the nights bumblings, the last actually, I discussed the Ubiquity of God. Doing this I think really helps in freeing us from what we are told we have to believe. Our perspective and ability to take in what God is doing expands greatly. But I also think as you, this is monumentally difficult. I think possibly this is part of why Monks would go into isolation, especially the first ones in the Egyptian desert. It is easier to find God in a place with much less stimuli than in the day to day world, partially because of how much stuff there is in the day to day world. When you are off with few people, and your life is really simple your consciousness can more easily take in what is going on.
ReplyDeleteJust my thoughts.