So, something strange happened to me today.  And I wish it wasn’t strange…but it was.  I actually wish it was a really normal occurence for me.

I’m praying this morning…and I usually have a card of specific people that need prayers.  But today, I couldn’t find my card.  Well…that’s ok.  I figuired I’d just pray through without it…no big deal.  About halfway through my prayer, an image of a friend (who I know wasn’t on the list) was burned in my mind.  So I prayed for that person.  Then, came the image of Marshall (read We Are Marshall to learn about him).  And I prayed for Marshall.

Sometimes I wonder if my list doesn’t get in my way.  Maybe my list of people to pray for puts a limit on what I will hear from God.  It doesn’t limit God…but it limits me.  Thank you Lord, for continuing to teach me to pray.

Perhaps I’ll lose my card again sometime.

I sat last night in a bible study…but there were several times my mind went somewhere else.

I sat this morning in prayer…but again, my mind went elsewhere.

Turn my thoughts to you, O God, grant me the peace of mind to remain focused on you.

We are a fallen people.  And we live in a fallen world.  I hear so much about “original sin.”  The sin that Adam and Eve committed when they listened to the lies of the enemy.  That was the original sin.  That is what changed everything for us.  Before that sin – Eden, Paradise, Heaven.  After that sin – a broken, fallen, world.

I hear so much about that.  I hear so much about how I shouldn’t sin.  How sinning is bad.  And it is, don’t get me wrong, but I wonder if there is a different message to hear.

What about our original Glory?  We were made in the image of a perfect God.  That is how glorious we are.  That is how we were created to live.  What if, instead of focusing on the sin, and the life that came immediately after that sin, we focused on what was BEFORE the sin. 

Sinning is central to our core.  Ever since that first sin, we have never been able to get it right.  But more central to our core is the glory that God created within us.  Sometimes I think if everyone tried to live in to that glory everyday, this world would be a better place.

“Restore me in the image of your love this day, that my passions for life may be full.”

                                        - J. Phillip Newell, Celtic Benediction

I been asking God alot recently about how He wants me to pray.  Every so often in my life something changes in how I feel I’m supposed to pray.  Sometimes it’s through journaling, sometimes it’s through reading, most recently it’s been through working out.  My hope is that someday I will be able to incorporate all those things into a “super prayer”…and then all things in my life will be perfected through Christ.  As of yet, though, I’m not there. 

I’ve been sensing a transition in how I pray.  Still not sure where it’s headed.  But this morning, in prayer, I read the quote above, and an image immediately washed over me.

Tumbleweed.  Tumbleweed rolling along a dry, dusty, lifeless road.

I don’t think that’s where I am, but, honestly, God gives me images like that sometimes.  Images that spur me on to either let God transform my heart, or show me where my heart is headed if something doesn’t change.

It got me thinking about life.  Our God, our Creator, is passionate.  Look at this world.  Look at this creation.  So much love and beauty and creativity.  The passion of God is all around us.  And we were made in that image.  God created us, and gives us the ability to feel that same passion.  I truly believe that. 

But it seems to me that I get so caught up in the everyday…that I lose that passion.  I have my schedule…I need my schedule, I need that rhythm to the day…so it is a good thing…but I get so lost in that rhythm, that when I read the words “passions for life”, well…I get the feeling that I’m missing something.  Hence the tumbleweed. 

“Restore me in the image of your love this day, that my passions for life may be full.”