New Pilgrim

Sun Rise

As a new pilgrim on the path of the soul, you progress in stages…[P]rayer becomes the means through which you let love flow through your soul and into the world. …Always the goal remains the same: to stretch the soul in preparation for becoming a container of divine love in the world. P.82/83 Entering the Castle Caroline Myss

It does not matter how far we are into the Christian life, whether we came to it yesterday or whether we were born into it, each day we are new pilgrims. We begin each day journeying anew towards God, discovering new spiritual joys, new understanding of  the divine love—that God’s love never ceases, never comes to an end, and that it is new every morning.

Journeying by Stages

So the discovery and spiritual journey continues in stages. As Abram continued his journey from the Negeb in stages, so we continue our journey to God in stages, sometimes repeating the journey many times over. We recommit our lives to God as we grow and find new meaning in our spiritual lives.

[Abram] journeyed on by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. Gen 13: 3, 4

© Judith Lawrence

Prayers of Despair

When an artist sends up a despairing prayer, the Great Creator does hear and answer it.

As artists, when human powers fail us, we must turn to the Great Creator for help. We must “surrender” our sense of isolation and despair and open ourselves to the spiritual help we frequently experience as an unexpected inner strength. Julia Cameron Walking in This World Page 244

When we are in the midst of despair we may make a desperate call for help from God—O God help me, we may say, crying out loud in our desperation.

This prayer will be answered immediately and it is important to keep our hearts and souls open so that we can know the peace and assurance of the grace of God’s answer to our prayer.

If we make our prayer—our desperate cry to God for help, and then immediately go back to despair and anxiety about our situation, it is as if we have closed our hearts and souls to God’s inflowing grace; though we have sent up our request to God we have immediately shut up the conduit to receive the answer.

We are partners with God in both the praying of the prayer and in the receiving of the answer. We say the prayer to God; God hears the prayer. God gives the answer; we, with open hearts, minds, and souls, receive the answer.

It is like a circular flow of give and take, request and answer, speaking and hearing. God makes requests of us also. God calls us to a way of life, a way of creativity, a joyful and generous demeanour. When we respond to God’s call to us that is a form of thanksgiving and gives glory to God.

© Judith Lawrence

Gentle Listening

Julia Cameron says, Walking in this world, we do not go unpartnered. We do not speak our prayers unheard. There is someone or something listening with the most tender of hearts. As we open to our inner life, our outer life also shifts. Lives are transformed by a gentle form of listening that is like walking with a cherished friend who listens [to us]. Julia Cameron, Walking in This World Page 5

If we walk alone, whether it is in the countryside or in a town or city, we may find ourselves talking to God as we walk. It is the kind of talking we do with a friend when we have a problem and we need someone to listen. This talking and responsive listening is a way to get troubling thoughts sorted out.

Our words, though not spoken out loud, do not go unheard. The listener, the one that I call God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, listens to our thoughts and prayers as one who cares deeply for His children. Whether our prayers are about an illness that has come upon us, some relationship difficulty that we are going through, or some passage in our writing that we can’t seem to get right, God listens quietly and gently so that our concerns get sorted out while we walk and pray.

The listener does not necessarily tell us what to do but, by allowing us to talk without judging us, we are enabled to find the right path that leads us through our difficulties and into a good conclusion.

© Judith Lawrence