Jesus said, “Come away with me and rest for awhile” (Matthew 6:31). He issued that invitation to his friends at the time, but he extends this loving welcome to us too.
Join me in Horton County Nature Reserve in Surrey, England, to embrace prayerfully Jesus’ invitation to rest, to give our worries to him. He says that our heavenly Father cares for us more than the birds in the air or the glorious flowers of the field.
Feel free to pause the video at any point as you ponder and reflect with God.
I love Celtic-flavored prayers; the repetition and poetry is beautiful helps me connect to God. Here’s one about the enfolding love of God, which I invite you to ponder and prayer through:
Carmina Gadelica III, p. 53, in David Adam, The Path of Life: Meditations on prayers from the Celtic tradition (London: SPCK, 2009), p. 85.
God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.
God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.
God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.
God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.
Today in the church we celebrate Trinity Sunday, a day to mark the glorious mystery of the God who is Three-in-One (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). I love this Celtic prayer:
I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through Your own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God,
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
Give us Your Spirit.
Carmina Gadelica I, pp. 2-3, as found in David Adam, The Path of Life: Meditations on prayers from the Celtic tradition (London: SPCK, 2009), pp. 23.
Join me in this prayer from the Church of England as we begin with Lent, the 40 days of prayer, fasting, and giving as we prepare for Easter.
Holy God,
our lives are laid open before you:
rescue us from the chaos of sin
and through the death of your Son
bring us healing and make us whole
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Artwork by Leo Boucher; used with permission; all rights reserved.
Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39, NIV). But these feel like hard words – self-sacrifice for ultimate gain? How can we even embrace this invitation, even if we want to?
It’s one of the upside-down truths of the kingdom of God that he gives us the ability to lose our lives and then to find them through his love. As Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, observed, When we look for God, he’ll sow during every moment of our lives, grains of his life that one day will spring up in a tremendous harvest.
Join me on the shores of the south coast of England (near Milford-on-Sea) to pray through Jesus’ startling invitation to find ourselves when we lose ourselves in God. We’ll incorporate some of Merton’s insights from his book, New Seeds of Contemplation. Feel free to pause the video at any point as you ponder and reflect with God.
These themes of losing ourselves to find ourselves are those I explore in my award-winning book, Still Finding Myself in Britain. Please consider joining in my through-the-year look at life in the UK as we engage with themes of faith, home, and identity.
The worries, cares, and uncertainties we face in life can crowd out our peace. But what if we’ve misunderstood what God means by peace? Join me in encountering God and receiving his peace and comfort in this mini-retreat, filmed at sunset by the shores of Lake Josephine in Roseville, Minnesota. In doing so we’ll prayerfully engage with Isaiah 61:1–3. As you focus on the God of peace, he will fill you with his peace.
Do feel free to stop the video and pause in prayer to receive from God.
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Join me for a mini-retreat, with time to pause, reflect on Scriputre, and experience God? Here’s my latest prayer practice (of 7 minutes) that I sent out with my monthly newsletter, perfect for this season of Advent.
We’ll be engaging with some lectio divina (prayerful reading) of the first part of John’s gospel (John 1:1–5, 9, 14, NIV). During the Advent season, it’s beneficial and meaningful to ponder Jesus, the true light who has come into the world.
Feel free to pause the video at any point as you ponder and reflect with God.
Receive my monthly newsletter, including giveaways and prayer exercises.