Listening - The Discerning Life Series
by Thomas B. Grosh IV, D.Min., CMDA Northeast Regional Director
The discerning life is a prayerful life—no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
A prayerful life is an enduring, persevering life, in which prayer becomes the preferred response to any and every event that affects our personal lives. Practicing a prayerful preference for God is best fulfilled in a posture of listening (45).
Stephen A. Macchia’s consideration of Listening: Spiritual Discernment is Prayerful in The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything* reminded me that at various times (and through various seasons) I have found it hard to engage in the regular, deep practice of prayer. His comparison of “a life of prayerful noticing” to “a long winter with snow in the forecast every week” struck me as an apt description of our journey through COVID-19.
Just when you think you’ve safely cleared off the streets, sidewalks, and driveways, the white stuff appears once agin, and all your hard work is quickly buried. So it is with prayer. Just when you think you’re cruising forward and feeling good about the life of prayer you’ve created, another storm arrives, and you’re back to square one (46).
Steve’s exploration of the Lord’s teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, sends one back to the passage, the importance of the model of prayer received in it, and the confession that “busyness” all too often replaces prayer. To whom am I giving attention? Me, technology, appointments / tasks, others OR my Lord and Savior?
Drawing from Steve’s application at the end of chapter (68-69), join me in taking a few minutes to
focus on a particular phrase of Jesus’ prayer.
be present to God through prayer and the Word.
consider / confess what hinders one from being close to the Word.
Furthermore, resolve to change direction and ask a friend to hold one accountable.
AND do not forget to consider attending the CMDA Northeast Annual Conference on October 28-30 at Sandy Cove (North East, MD).
Keep worshiping, fixing your eyes on, and pressing on in the upward hope of Christ Jesus. To God be the glory!
