Toolkit: Prayer and Discipline

Tool #3 Prayer and Discipline!

I like to write. And yet, I have a difficult time “finding time” (I wonder, does anyone ever find time?) to write. I talk about writing. I get ready to write. But rarely, do I just write. So my friend Carol recommended The Creative Habit as a book that I might enjoy. She thought the book might illuminate some issues for me. Following are some of phrases from the first chapters.

Being a creative is a full-time job with its own daily patterns. Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit. The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration, maybe more. And this routine is available to everyone.

Creativity is not just for artists. There are no “natural” geniuses. (Beethoven still played the scales!) In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative. You have to have discipline – exercises. The exercises will help you develop skill. A lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves into that environment, they begin their creative day.

These words have not always been my friends…discipline, routine, ritual. But I am making peace with them. I am finding the routines of my prayer life bring more than prayer to my life. And there is my life: busy and too full. With superb gentleness my spiritual director reminded me of the order of life that Benedict recommends:

8-9 hours of sleep (I know, right?)
4 hours of prayer
3-4 hours of resting and eating
4-6 hours of mental or manual labor
3 hours for reading and reflection

How do I measure up? Not so badly on the days in which I feel strong. Everyday? Now that's a different story. How about you? Wasn't it Wesley that said, "I have so much to do that I can't get by on less than three hours of prayer." My perfect day? I love to walk first, light incense and pray next (with coffee!) and then leisurely get dressed for the day. Prayer at noonish - usually a site on my computer. Then reading in the evening - IF I'm not working late. That works fine except there is a commute to be traveled and ministering to be done! There are Bible studies to be taught and art classes to lead.

And then Benedict speaks from The Prologue to The Rule seemingly right to me:

However late, then, it may seem, let us rouse ourselves from lethargy. That is what scripture urges on us when it says: the time has come for us to rouse ourselves from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the light that can change us into the likeness of God. Let our ears be alert to the stirring call of his voice crying to us every day: today, if you should hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And again: let anyone with ears to hear listen to what the Spirit said to the church. And this what the Spirit says: come my children, hear me, and I shall teach you…run while you have the light of life…

Benedict is reminding me/us of the gift of the day – this day, as the day to discipline ourselves for prayer. To make a routine, to create muscle memory, to make rituals that lead us to a deeper experience of prayer. To let our minds be soaked with scripture so that we can pray. I wonder if that is why he used The Hours (The Divine Office, The Liturgy of the Hours) as the principle work of his monks? The muscle memory became so deeply imbedded in the tissue of their bodies, that they could often pray without thinking first, “Wait, it’s time to pray.” Rather the tolling of the bell signaled the beginning of the movement toward prayer. (I see that same muscle memory at work in the community of older teens where I lead worship. As we gather, there is loud, teenaged visiting, but then when the hour is chimed and the light is brought in, even a roomful of teens is quieted and ready for the movement of prayer.)

Many Benedictine communities still pray The Office for the entire seven or eight hours, but some are moving toward a modified prayer format of Morning Praise, Noon Prayer and Vespers and/or Compline. A Google search will lead you to many on line resources if you want to experiment. One of my favorite sites is www.sacredspace.ie – this is Jesuit site (Ignatius not Benedict) but there are lovely prayers that are available in several formats to fit your needs/desires that could be used throughout the day.

Question to think about: Are you liking the rhythm of your life?

Here is a prayer for noon/midday. As you pray, notice the words that "speak" to you. You may want to journal about those words or phrases.
Prayer for Noon:

O God, we pray for this day:
For all who have a song they cannot sing;
For all you have burdens they cannot bear;
For all who live in chains they cannot break
For all who wander homeless and cannot return;
For those who are sick and for those who tend them;
For those who wait for loved ones and wait in vain

For those who live in hunger
And for those who will not share their bread;
For those who are misunderstood
And for those who misunderstand;
For those who are captive
And for those who are captors;
For those whose words of love are locked within their hearts
And for those who yearn to hear those words.
Have mercy on these, O God.
Have mercy on us all.

-- Ann Weems
Try to sit with the phrases that pull at your heart. Try reading the prayer aloud.

And tonight…don’t forget your Examen.
If you are wanting to try Holy Reading again, try it with Psalm 139:1=18.


Resources;
Tharp, Twyla; The Creative Habit, Learn it and Use it for Life; Simon and Schuster, New York, 2003.
Soul Weavings: A Gathering of Women’s Prayers; Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, MN, 1996.