Simple Gift

I’m reading Richard Foster’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. It’s been a busy few weeks, and I haven’t had much time to pick it up, but I finished Chapter One this morning. I’ve been purposefully reading it slowly. He writes well, and his work is full of nuggets that need assimilation. I mentioned before that I am hesitant to write in this book – I have no idea why – but I have been, and several lines in this chapter are underlined.

The concept discussed in Chapter 1 is Simple Prayer. I’ve never heard of simple prayer, but I have experienced it. The concept of simple prayer flies in the face of the idea that prayer has to be “just right.”

Simple prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate father. There is no pretence in simple prayer. He goes on to say Simple prayer is beginning prayer. It is the prayer of children, and yet we will return to it again and again.

The catch, though, and something that must not be forgotten, is that this is not prayer from which we “graduate.” “Simple prayer is necessary, even essential, to the spiritual life.”

Consider for a moment those sleepless nights that we all sometimes have – those nights when a worry is weighing on our minds. We pace. Because of the gift of simple prayer, we do not pace alone. We pace with God – he walks with us and listens to our worries. It’s not praise – it’s not high sounding theological terms – its our hearts poured out to God – the worries, the anger, the doubt. Isn’t it a gift to know that we walk with our God through those kind of emotions?

Consider for a moment those times when we are exhausted, maybe even too tired to pray, or to even remember God. Simple prayer means that God hears our tired souls anyway. We can bring that weariness to his doorstep and leave it, and he is our pillow.

To believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the stuff of prayer.

Isn’t that a gift? As I was reading this chapter, a Shaker song came to mind. The words were written by Elder Joseph Brackett:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right

It’s a dancing song; it was written to be used in dance, and the simple instructions for movement are seen in the words. In fact, the melody can be found in the United Methodist Hymnal associated with the hymn Lord of the Dance (one of my favorites). It strikes me that it is also a description of the gift of simple prayer, and how it is a dance with God. Read it again, thinking of prayer.

The gift: "We will discover that by praying we learn to pray. "

Image: Manuscript of Simple Gifts from this site.
Happy Birthday to JtM!