Author: Jane Burg

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 Fire Hydrant
Perched on a high stool at the window, I was fretting about the lack of beauty in the scene before me. Across the street from my Starbucks stood a drab Counseling Building, and an empty parking lot surrounded by a black iron fence. The trees were bare.

The Holy Spirit paused my internal complaining by whispering, “You don’t see beauty, because you are not looking for it.” I determined to find it. The fire hydrant.

I had not noticed before the curved dome that crowned the workhorse. The whimsy of the bright red color and the stateliness of the body through which the water poured. There it was, beauty.

The next day I discovered the lacy black branches on show, lying against a clouded sky. I drew the fire hydrant, the lacy branches, beauty everywhere. In this act I discovered two new skills, the ability to see beauty and the love of drawing it.

When one is going through a transition, a challenging time, needing a safe place to explore their relationship with God . . . meeting with a spiritual companion or spiritual director might be helpful. If you would like to explore whether you and I might be a good fit, to meet in this way, I invite you to view the following menu pages for more information.