Wait for the Lord 06 - The Bridge of Prayer

So, this will be a bit of a "different" post - I read the devotion early this morning before what ended up being a very very full day and now at about 10:15pm, I cannot find a copy of the devotional booklet. What I do remember is that it was about prayer and getting in touch with God's work through prayer. After I read the devotion this morning, I headed out on a hike on a very foggy morning. It was beautiful as I hiked through the thick fog as the sun was starting to rise well above the horizon and periodically breaking through the fog. But it was this bridge that I have crossed many times on this hiking trail in the past that made me stop and take a shot of it from a rather different perspective. I was kneeling down looking back from where I had come from, looking back toward where the sun was and toward the fog that had settled on the creek. I think there's something in prayer about how its not as much about getting God to act but about us getting in touch with what God has already done (looking back on what has happened) and crossing over to what God is doing (crossing the bridge). The Advent season leads us to look back on the stories that have led us to this point. The characters in the story all are looking back as they hear of promises, prophecies, and fulfillment and working on how those events speak into the extra-ordinaryness of their recent experiences (Elizabeth's miraculous conception, the virgin birth, angels visiting Zechariah, Joseph, and Mary, and the list goes on). So, I am praying tonight for many things, but praying that the God who has been at work will reveal to me the ways that God continues to be at work today and will be at work tomorrow, and the next...

Prayer is first of all listening to God. It’s openness. God is always speaking; he’s always doing something. - Henri Nouwen