For most of my life I thought prayer was figuring out God’s will for something and then asking for that very passionately . . . the bigger the better. That was exhausting! Often it was expected that you also speak that out loud in a group of people. That was torture for this introvert.
What a relief it was to see in the story of the Wedding at Cana, that when Jesus’ mother brought to her Son’s attention that the groom had run out of wine, she did not offer any suggestions. She simply went to the servants, pointed to Jesus and said, “Do whatever He tells you.”
This was my introduction to the spiritual practice of Listening Prayer. Mary could not have possibly come up with the idea of producing wine from water found in dirty jars. Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to come up with God’s provision for our concerns? These days I find myself bringing my concerns to God and listening for what only God can design.
The Art of Spiritual Direction 