Tapestry of Wisdom: Prayer, a curated collection
“Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.”
—Rev. Eugene Peterson
Follow the threads that draw you…
When prayer feels hard (guilt, dryness, faith shift)
Prayer as blessing (threshold language for seasons of life)
When prayer feels hard
Spencer LaJoye speaks here about their song (and prayer), “Plowshare Prayer”…
“It was the grandest and rawest outcry from my own soul at a pivotal moment.”
I was feeling guilty about not praying enough when I crossed paths with a tiny book called Praying Our Experiences: An Invitation to Open Our Lives to God by Joseph F. Schmidt. He helped me recognize I am praying all the time; it just doesn’t look the way I was taught prayer should look. He writes:
“I believe praying one’s experiences is exceedingly common among people who, ironically, not understanding it to be prayer, condemn themselves for not praying.”
Prayer as blessing (words for thresholds)
When prayer began to feel particularly challenging for me, as my own faith was shifting, I was drawn to the art of the blessing. A blessing gifts us with words to hold us as we cross a threshold—planned or unexpected.
Jan Richardson lost her husband unexpectedly during a routine medical procedure. In this book, she gifts us language for the landscape of grief and bears intimate witness to its complexity—the way it shows up in the everydayness of loss, in conversations with people who aren’t sure how to be with us, and in the sharpest edges of heartache and pain.
In The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief, Richardson writes:
“When God’s providence seems most difficult to find, a blessing helps us perceive the grace that threads through our lives.”
I was captivated by John O’Donohue after hearing him on the On Being podcast with Krista Tippett. In To Bless the Space Between Us, he describes the gift of this art form:
“A blessing evokes a privileged intimacy. It touches a tender membrane where the human heart cries out its divine ground. In the ecstasy and loneliness of one’s life, there are certain times when a blessing is nearer to us than any other person or thing. A blessing is not a sentiment or a question; it’s a gracious invocation where the human heart pleads with the divine heart. There is nothing more intimate in a life than the secret under-territory where it anchors.”
A Quote to Carry As You Make Your Way
“The wish to pray is a prayer in itself.”
—George Bernanos
This little collection is curated by Kirsten, a spiritual director and collage artist. If you want some company as you attune to what is stirring within you, I’d be honored to meet you for deep listening—online and in-person on Vashon Island, WA.
A Quick Word From Kirsten…
These reflections and practices are written by a human artist and spiritual director. They are joyfully and freely given.
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