Your Life as a Prayer ...
When I was a child I prayed like a child, as I was taught by my Protestant Christian elders.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."
Truthfully, I never liked this prayer. In fact, it scared the bejeezus out of me to pray it before I went to sleep because I did NOT want to die before I woke up in the morning. But I did it anyway. I did not know any different.
Today, the prayers that cross my mind and emanate from my heart are more grown up, reflective of a mature spirituality, one which has been hard won ...
Today, prayer holds a multitude of meanings for me. And it can take many forms:
Sitting in silence. Communing with nature. Surrendering to music. Intentional gardening. Watching, appreciating, thanking. Making love. Meditative reading. Walking.
There are as many prayer forms as there are people. Sing, dance, bow, prostrate, worship, chant, read, celebrate, beseech, surrender, beg for mercy ... We each find our way.
And because I am a creative person (and I believe creativity is an act of the Divine expressing itself through us), my prayer forms change. As my spiritual understanding grows, so does my prayer life.
I am enjoying another new prayer form these days. I am praying with a mala/rosary. An interspiritual one.
One day while blogging, I stumbled upon Roy's site (Return to the Center) which pictured a special mala/rosary created by a Korean nun, Seon Joon. It was accompanied by the most beautiful prayers, albeit Buddhist-leaning, but definitely interspiritual. Most were authored by Thich Nhat Hanh, someone who has been a powerful role model for me over the years.
I fell in love with these prayers and the idea of praying with beads.
Further searching led me to Laura at Heart of Compasson Malas and I queried her to see if she was willing to make this rosary for me. She did, thankfully, and now I am exploring this practice. It is bringing me much peace. It is opening my heart wider than I ever imagined. I feel so grateful to have found it. And Laura! And Roy!
Each time I pray with this rosary I am drawn to a new phrase.
This is the one that is touching my heart today:
Now as I pray, instead of being afraid of dying before I awake, I am filled with the possibilities of how my love and compassion can impact others. I am filled with joy.
As it can for any of us ...
I'm curious. What is your understanding of prayer?
Do you have a prayer practice that satisfies YOUR soul?
I'm eager to hear ...
~~~~~
For a copy of Seon Joon's rosary prayers, contact Laura at heartofcompassionmalas.com, or e-mail me through my website and I will send one to you.
For every Seon Joon rosary Laura makes, she donates $5 back to Seon Joon's monastery in Korea for the education of foreign students. The rosary is shown in the photo above. You can contact Laura for details.
(Image courtesy of http://www.ccftucson.org)
Today, the prayers that cross my mind and emanate from my heart are more grown up, reflective of a mature spirituality, one which has been hard won ...
Today, prayer holds a multitude of meanings for me. And it can take many forms:
Sitting in silence. Communing with nature. Surrendering to music. Intentional gardening. Watching, appreciating, thanking. Making love. Meditative reading. Walking.
There are as many prayer forms as there are people. Sing, dance, bow, prostrate, worship, chant, read, celebrate, beseech, surrender, beg for mercy ... We each find our way.
And because I am a creative person (and I believe creativity is an act of the Divine expressing itself through us), my prayer forms change. As my spiritual understanding grows, so does my prayer life.
How can we bind ourselves to one form of prayer
when God Itself is so boundless and creative?
when God Itself is so boundless and creative?
I am enjoying another new prayer form these days. I am praying with a mala/rosary. An interspiritual one.
One day while blogging, I stumbled upon Roy's site (Return to the Center) which pictured a special mala/rosary created by a Korean nun, Seon Joon. It was accompanied by the most beautiful prayers, albeit Buddhist-leaning, but definitely interspiritual. Most were authored by Thich Nhat Hanh, someone who has been a powerful role model for me over the years.
I fell in love with these prayers and the idea of praying with beads.
Further searching led me to Laura at Heart of Compasson Malas and I queried her to see if she was willing to make this rosary for me. She did, thankfully, and now I am exploring this practice. It is bringing me much peace. It is opening my heart wider than I ever imagined. I feel so grateful to have found it. And Laura! And Roy!
Each time I pray with this rosary I am drawn to a new phrase.
This is the one that is touching my heart today:
"We aspire to practice your vow to act with the eyes and heart of compassion,
to bring joy to one person in the morning
and to ease the pain of one person in the afternoon.
We know that the happiness of others is our happiness,
and we aspire to practice joy on the path of service."
to bring joy to one person in the morning
and to ease the pain of one person in the afternoon.
We know that the happiness of others is our happiness,
and we aspire to practice joy on the path of service."
Isn't this a profound invitation? To set an intention to bring joy to one person and to ease the pain of another— each day, every day? I am humbled and awed ...
Now as I pray, instead of being afraid of dying before I awake, I am filled with the possibilities of how my love and compassion can impact others. I am filled with joy.
And because I am, my life itself feels like a prayer ...
As it can for any of us ...
I'm curious. What is your understanding of prayer?
Do you have a prayer practice that satisfies YOUR soul?
I'm eager to hear ...
~~~~~
For a copy of Seon Joon's rosary prayers, contact Laura at heartofcompassionmalas.com, or e-mail me through my website and I will send one to you.
For every Seon Joon rosary Laura makes, she donates $5 back to Seon Joon's monastery in Korea for the education of foreign students. The rosary is shown in the photo above. You can contact Laura for details.
(Image courtesy of http://www.ccftucson.org)
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23 comments:
Oh Jan, that prayer scared me to death as well. When I had my daughter I taught it to her this way.
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
Guide me safely through the night
And wake me with the morning's light
My aunt taught me this version when I revealed the original version frightened me.
I have found great peace in using the metta prayer method you introduced awhile back, but I admit I switch things up after awhile. I never knew how many loving ways there were to pray until last year.
LOL...I used to say that prayer when I was little and it scared me to death! I now say a very similar prayer with my kids it goes like this:
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
May angels watch me through the night
And wake me with the morning light."
Much better don't you think???
I pray out loud with my kids every night and we pray for love and happiness...we ask to let go of all the negative things that may have happened during the day. We put the past behind and ask for beautiful new day ahead.
We do this every night without fail. It's such a beautiful ending to the day. I believe it sends them to sleep a bit more calmly. I pray each night as well, and give gratitude back to the universe for all the gifts I have received.
I truly love what you said about prayers being able to take on many forms, including sharing intimate time with another human being. How glorious!
The prayer you posted was beautiful, and I love what it implied. Truly, that would be the most spectacular way to spend any day, and I'm going to keep that in mind moving ahead. I do try to spread as much joy and love as possible, but something about how specific that was --- just one person in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Good, good stuff.
I'm so glad I stopped by and read this today!
I was taught to say:
"Lord keep me safe this night
Safe from all my fears
May Angels guard me while I sleep
Until morning light appears."
I always feel safe saying it :)
I will have to thank you, dearest Jan for introducing me to the rosary and Laura's malas. You know what mine looks like:) I don't use it in the traditional sense. Just it's presence on my altar is like a guardian angel always watching over me.
Thich Nhat Hanh also has some beautiful prayers, and you seem to be using them wisely.
For me, prayer is about clsoing the eyes, opening the heart, and breathing in the intention fully, and then sending it out lovingly. I've learned a lot of this from you!
Hello, dear Jan,
I love this post. I learned such a narrow idea of prayer in church when I was young. It was almost outlined and scripted: first part A, then part B, then part C. Only certain words and phrases were considered "true" prayer. It never felt right to me.
Over the years I have tried not to pray for certain things or certain outcomes. I do pray for the strength to handle whatever comes my way. I pray for the overall safety and good health of those I love, and often for those I don't. Most of all, I give thanks for all my blessings.
My prayers are more like thoughts. I don't have any formal rituals.
I feel most connected with spiritual energy when I am in nature, when I hear a bird sing, when I hear a wind chime. Or when I hear a piece of music so beautiful it makes me weep. My gratitude during these moments feels like prayer.
I love how you incorporate truths from all beliefs and religions in your posts, especially this one. How you see that prayer takes as many forms as the people who pray. Thank you!
Hugs,
Angela
Hi Jan - That original kids prayer scared me too. So did Rock a Bye Baby, the cradle will fall! What on earth were these people thinking????
Your prayer was lovely. I don't have a set one anymore. God made me a rambler, so I guess he understands my rambling prayers. The "theme" is almost always gratitude.
well, you've seen some of my prayer practises at the xfacta :)
like you as a child i was taught prayer was something you did before bed, before meals, in church etc, and with your eyes closed starting with Dear God finishing with Amen [now there is a nice structure to that and i still use that sometimes]
but my current understanding of prayer is so much larger - if one sees prayer as practising the presence of the Divine - then prayer can involve no words at all
i love to paint prayers
and have painted prayer flags (on my own and in a group) and i have danced and painted prayers (on my own)
i have also used toning as a way of prayer
as some have mentioned here prayer can simply involve surrounding ourselves with nature, focusing on the small and large details around us, slowing our breathing, simply being in the presence of the Divine (which somehow seems easier in nature)
i could take over the comments here...but perhaps i will bounce of this and post something on my own blog
love the conversations you generate here Jan
may your day be blessed
Like you, I use prayer beads (I also sell them in my shop - although I've been a bit slack and need to make some more!!) At the moment I'm using sandlewood prayer beads and a simple mantra 'Namo Kwan shih yin pu sa'. Each morning I will sit and say several rounds of a full mala. Then I send reiki out to various people and places, and finally the Earth for world peace. The practice centres me. I may sit for a while, just feeling what I'm feeling, and 'listening' to whatever comes up. I believe that praying is a two-way thing - we may pray but we also need to leave space to listen. So silence is a form of praying without praying at all.
I don't tend to pray through the day, other than to say thank you for small blessings that come my way. (Or to ask for a parking space!!!)
I am with Angela on this one. The word prayer is still loaden wiht negativity and refers to nonsensical blah words so much so that I really had to stay open and listen to what you were saying rather than have my mind run away with its rants about prayers. Funny how that takes effort while you are absolutely talking about prayers in a way that can speak to my heart.
I make sure I see the beauty around me, live by being love in action and that is prayer to me for now.
Our prayer was mostly,
Now I lay me down to sleep
A bag of candy at my feet
If I die before I wake
You'll know I died of stomach ache.
Not the greatest in the world either. Not to mention the havoc the candy wreaked on our teeth.
My sister told me that when we hurt ourselves and let out sudden expletives those are a kind of little prayers, which makes sense to me.
I did a little something funny last Friday, funny for me anyway. I was seated in a group of people who were mostly all engaged in conversation, which were I to try to enter in on would have been kind of awkward. So I closed my eyes a minute and talked to the Divine, which made me feel much better, not like such an outsider. And the day went well.
I had never considered intentional gardening as opposed to unintentional. Is this some concept I've missed out on -- intentional gardening?
I love working with a mantra on some prayer beads too. I love my malas. Thanks for a thoughtful post, as always!
That prayer somehow didn't scare me. Guess I was always a Buddhist and the thought of dying before waking was just something I felt okay with, as long as a divine presence would be there to protect and guide me.
What people have commented here on this post is so interesting. I love how many ways people find to meditate and pray. :-)
Love,
Laura
Heart of Compassion Malas
How beautiful.
How to best describe the meaning of prayer in my life. I try to make my life a prayer. To be mindful and aware that God is with me, Spirit is within me, Energy flows through me. So, each thought and action is a form of prayer...can be scary when my thoughts and actions are not "right on" or I consider compromise. Can be absolutely fulfilling on good flowing days.
I believe lots of what I do are forms of worship and praise--hard not to feel absolute joy with the beauty of the scenery around me on the boat--the mast is my cross, the sky is my ceiling, the ocean my backyard...literally. I live with it, see it coming to and from home..all breathtaking reminders of beauty and joy and abundance.
Jan,
Love that new prayer! I like the prayer of protection:
The light of God surrounds me
The love of God enfolds me
The power of God protects me
The presence of God watches over me.
Where I am God is and all is well.
I also love many of the prayers in A Course In Miracles.
In April, 2007 I wrote a blog piece about this very prayer. The piece featured a photo of my sister and me that was taken around 1949. We were kneeling alongside our bed in a prayerful pose. I thought you might like a link to my piece.
Evening Prayer
I agree with you that prayer can take many forms including both formal and informal. It can amount to dedicating a task you might be engaged in to prayer. Living itself can be a way of praying.
I cherish that first prayer I learned as a child. I cherish it because my mother loved me enough to introduce me to praying with that first prayer. As I grew older I discovered other ways to pray.
One of my favorite religious figures is Mother Teresa. Her prayer life was simple. From her book Everything Starts with Prayer, is this:
"CONSIDER THAT YOU ARE IN GOD,
surrounded and encompassed by God,
swimming in God."
I like that a lot.
The Now I lay me down to sleep always scared me to. I did not want to die before I woke....I changed it with my children to:
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
Guard me through the livelong night
And wake me with the morning light
Dearest Friends,
I am loving all your responses. I wish I could respond personally to each one now, but I am just home from 2 days of travel and will do so tomorrow. I am deeply touched by all that has been written here and I want to ponder and savor it at my leisure, then comment. Beautiful thoughts and practices! Interesting how many of us felt afraid of the "sleep" prayer as children...So important to give ourselves permission to "reinvent" when we can. Blessings to you all!
Tabitha,
I appreciate the way you (and many others here) varied the prayer. I never thought of that when I was younger or had a wise elder to suggest that. Your daughter is very lucky indeed! And I am so happy to hear that Metta continues to enrich your life. I will be posting more on it soon! It is powerful and life-changing.
Caroline,
The prayer practice you share with your children is just beautiful! By being "original" they will have lovely memories of praying with mom.
I am very touched by this...
Megan,
So many wonderful prayers, and I am thrilled to hear that you focus on alleviating others' suffering and spread joy throughout the day. We need many clones of you to crack the heart of the world wide open!
Matthew,
You are right. The prayer said in this way does make one feel safe and held in divine embrace! Thank you!
Mermaid,
How exciting that you now have your own special mala to pray/meditate with. The idea of a custom mala was so intriguing to me as, for many years, I tried to pray with a traditional Christian rosary with no heartfelt success. The language stunted me. And thank you for the kudos on what you seem to have learned through our connection. May we all open our hearts more fully to one another -- risk and all. xo
Angela,
Happy to hear you are finding many things which fill your heart with prayerful thoughts and expressions. I, too, find the greatest connection through nature and, yes, the sound of wind or birds or chimes can just make one week with gratitude. And, as you say, praying without attachment to a specific outcome does bring untold benefits and blessings. :-)
SuZen,
I love the idea of rambling prayers! I'd much more ramble than recite! Rest assured, any ramble is well-received by an energetic and loving universe! We are its heart and cannot NOT be understood.
Kel,
You know me and I adore your phrase: prayer is practicing the presence of the divine. Being the love, emanating the peace, being a conduit for healing. Simply "being with" our understanding of God will suffice...Painting our prayers intrigues me, as well as dancing them, singing them. My writing to me often feels like a prayer. Creative expression is so underestimated in how it plugs us into the Sacred! (Ok, now I am preaching to the choir, LOL.)
Stoneweaver (Healing Stones),
Your prayer practice sounds so meaningful and how lovely that you combine it with Reiki. I do love the way you describe praying without words—giving ourself over to the silence.
Wilma,
The way you look at prayer is a beautiful way to look at it, believe me! And perfect for you. Like Ms. HS said above, silence, appreciation, gratitude may be the most profound forms of prayer we can offer. Keep listening to your own heart...
Jannie,
What a sweet spin you put on this post, pun intended! I give you a big pat on the back for being able to sink down into your sacred center in that challenging situation. Amazing how all that works.
As for intentional gardening, another word might be prayerful gardening, rather than gardening for show, or prizes, or to sell flowers/veggies???
Laura,
Too dear, that this prayer didn't scare you because you had no fear of death, even at that age. My...
Yes, I love, too, to hear how everyone has their own version of prayer/meditation. It's wonderful!
Jan, my response to this post is now up, thanx for the inspiration
Joy,
Am loving your focus here and how your life is prayer, and that prayer "beads"--a mast, the water, the wind, the sky--are your holy touchpoints. May you sail on in glory with joy!
Tess,
Yes, this prayer is a lovely prayer and provides such calm...Thank you for the reminder.
Susie Q,
Thank you for these thoughts and I am happy to hear that you are finding your way to prayers of great meaning. Love the prayer by M. Teresa. Lovely!
Beverly,
I appreciate your comment. :-) Another dear way to make this particular prayer more comforting.
Kel,
And what a beautiful response it is Kel. I hope everyone pops on over to read your response...
I, too, remember that children's prayer and how much it worried me as a child. I taught my children:
Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the Lord my soul to keep
Guard me through the starry night
And wake me with the morning light.
I found that version comforting and still sometimes say it.
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