Being Creative in Prayer...

If I learned nothing else over the past 15 weeks of family chaos, trials, tribulations and joys, it is that I need to focus when I pray.  I have one of those brains that is more like a habitrail than a hamster wheel.  My worries and prayers run off on all kinds of tangents, twists and turns until it forms some mobius loop of angst in my soul and functioning becomes difficult.

We don’t have rosaries or worry beads in the United Church Tradition, but as I began to look at how many cultures use beads or stones to help focus for meditation and prayer, this little idea began to grow in the back of my mind.

What if I could create some anchors to help me keep on track as I prayed?  What if I could break the basic things I tend to pray about on a regular basis into categories that would repeat in a cycle which I could separate with special beads.

So... I’ve begun to explore the idea, making little shapes out of Fimo.  I will have to rummage through my stash of special beads or have an excuse to visit beading places!

I’m not quite sure where this will lead yet, but exploring the Spiritual side of my Creativity is just another fun part of this adventure.

INHALE:   Faith is something that we may grow up with, we may change how we experience, we may question or we may finally make our own instead of just accepting the beliefs of our parents.  It is something that many of us use as a foundation on which to base our value system, our outlook on the world and even our hopes for the future.  Above all, it is something intensely personal, even if it is celebrated in community.  Thinking about where we fit in relationship to the world, the cosmos and all things eternal puts us in great company.  Many of the most creative people in our history have explored this side of their lives.

EXHALE:  Whatever faith you celebrate, or even if you are still asking yourself questions about what you believe, think about how you could practice that more creatively.  Could you make a quiet, inviting space somewhere in your house?  Could you make a candle to light during your devotional time?  Keep a prayer or gratitude journal?  The possibilities are almost as the Universe in which we live.

Creativity in Prayer...

When your child is hurt, even if it is minor, you become VERY creative in your prayers.

“Please spare my child this pain...”

“Please let it be me instead...”

“Please help me make her see that she has more than one dream and more than one option in life...”

I feel selfish wrestling with this when there are parents tonight out there watching their children starve to death slowly... parents who are sitting by a hospital bed wondering if they have to say goodbye tonight or not... parents who do not know where their children are tonight.

This is just a wrenched knee and preventative medicine for an overeager athlete who thought she was a bit more indestructible than she proved to be.

But as she cried last night in Emergency, fearing suddenly that her dreams of a volleyball career or University scholarship (I must point out that she is only in Grade 9 but comes from two type A personality parents) were shattered, I wanted to do or promise anything to just be able to make it better.

When we came home and I got her to bed, creeping in to my own bed later after getting my work done, I was very creative with my prayers every time those dark fingers of fear curled their way around my heart. 

I thought about pointing out all her other gifts to her.  

I thought about the “wherever God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window” line.

I prayed pink clouds of healing surrounding her and her knee in the night.

I remembered the most important lesson that I have been learning along this journey.

Just breathe.  Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

INHALE: Sometimes we are most creative without holding anything in our hands.  No crafting supplies, no paintbrush, no pen.  Sometimes we are most Creative with the stirrings of our souls and our dreams, our prayers and our wishes, our plans and our possibilities.  As long as we remember that we always have choices and that there are always new options we might not have thought about, the curve balls that life tends to throw at us won’t be so bad.  That is SO much easier to type than to live out!

EXHALE:  Pick one worry in your life right now that feels overwhelming.  When you lie there trying to fall asleep or take a moment for yourself to journal, explore all the possibilities in your head.  What would be the worst thing that could happen?  How could you cope with that?  What might be a solution that you’ve overlooked as being too “out of the box”?  What have you got to lose?  Erin was given the choice to rest her knee now and see if it heals or know that she will miss out playing in the Easterns in 28 days.  Sometimes waiting and healing is all we can do.  Be Creative in your prayers and in how you face your fears!

Creativity In How We Share Our Faith...

I wish I’d brought my camera to church today!! 

It was a snowy Sunday and our Annual Meeting right after church, so some members of our congregation stayed home today, but we began a new unit in our BLAST rotation (Bible Learning Adventure STations) downstairs for the kids during church.

After they chose whether to put their offering in the “Helping Here At Home” or “Helping Around the World” boxes, we sat in a circle and introduced the passages from Matthew and Mark where Jesus said “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 

We talked about what it would be like to leave everything you know behind and start over.

We talked about what it must have been like for the people of Haiti who had to race from their homes into the streets.  My best friend and her son described what it was like to run from their house while it was burning to the ground and starting over from scratch.

Then, we went into the kitchen and made huge fish shaped pizzas.  We spread sauce on flat bread that had been cut in the shapes of fish, sprinkles the cheese on our fish, used pepperoni to make scales on 3 out of the 4 fish and used sliced black olives for the eyes.

Not only was it a creative way to share the stories of our faith... it was DELICIOUS!

INHALE:  How do you pass on your faith to those around you, especially the next generation.  However you celebrate what you believe and where you draw strength from, fewer people are attending services in many different faiths around the world.  Worship is becoming an increasingly personal and private thing for many people, yet we cannot ignore the importance of gathering together to celebrate that there IS more to life than just the number of our days.

EXHALE: This week, as the world focusses on Valentine’s Day and LOVE, remember to find time for yourself as well.  How can you be Creative in celebrating what you believe?  Can you set up a space for yourself in which to meditate or pray? Can you hunt for books, prayers or music that inspires you?  Can you share your faith journey’s story with someone who has never heard the adventure before? Can you write a prayer of love for a planet that needs it?  Can you celebrate the blessings that you have by sharing your time and talents with others?  Be Creative as you follow in the footsteps of the One who sculpted the Universe.

Learning to Pray Creatively...

I meant to post this last night after my safe arrival in Geneva, Switzerland to look after my niece and nephew for a week, but between jetlag, travel adventures and being the Aunty Dragon hug machine, I never got on my brother’s computer until this morning. Given all that has happened since Dad died, all that a few of my friends are facing and some of my travel experiences to get here, this felt like the right topic for today’s Inhaling Creativity.
Any weird typos will be because the y and z are reversed on this European keyboard... so do bear with me if I don’t catch them all.

Prayer comes in many forms for many different religions around the world. Certainly with the disaster in Haiti, many of us around the world are praying for other people in other places more than ever before. That is what intercessory prayer is all about.

INHALE What do you do when you don’t know what you are supposed to pray for? You just turn everything over to God. Praying about someone and for someone doesn’t have to be a bargain, a list of demands or wishes, a plea or even a formal prayer. All you have to do is hold that person, issue or concern in your innermost being and let it go...

EXHALE The next time that someone or something is weighing heavy on your heart, just try being creative in how you pray. I had to calm myself when the customs officer in London took a 3\4 filled bottle of lens solution because it COULD contain 120 ml (companies don’t make a smaller size yet) instead of 100 ml. After I got over the initial desire to pray for a bolt of lightning, I turned my creativity to prayer instead. Inhale, exhale. That’s becoming routine now in tough times as well as good ones. I hold a prayer in my heart and then imagine it as a butterfly, coloured bird or even a balloon... drifting up to Heaven. If we believe in a Creative God (and I have ever since I first saw a platypus) then why should our prayers not reflect that? Pray or praise with music, drawings or images. Write down your own prayers that move you or string one word after the other like worry beads to hold them in your heart; Peace... Healing... Love... Joy...Strength. Just take it one breath at a time.