Amen (4/19/24)

“Aren’t you going to say, ‘Amen’?” Not yet, I’m not done. I don’t know about you, but I start my prayer first thing in the morning. I get up, grab my cup of coffee, head to the porch, and my conversation with my LORD begins. And even though I rise and begin my daily task, truth is, I don’t consider my prayer done, I don’t consider our conversation over. I continue the conversation as I ask the LORD for help with my tasks, help with my relationships, direction, spiritual gifts. I continue the conversation as I recognize the LORD’s presence around me, the beauty of creation, the gift of another’s friendship. The LORD and I talk. We talk all day. And when I’ve finished my reflection for the day and my prayer of awe and thanksgiving, I say, “Amen, LORD, for today.”

I haven’t always done this. It’s an acquired approach. It came when I recognized that Jesus’ words in John 15:5 are true and worth living: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” Oh, I’ve tried striking out on my own, independent, large and in charge. You don’t want to know how that turned out. I’ve learned that whenever I put down what makes me me, my relationship with my LORD, I cease to be me, I cease to be fruitful, things go awry.

I’ve learned through experience that my life is my prayer, and my prayer is my life. I think of Paul’s wisdom expressed to the Athenians in Acts 17:28: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” When I try to set my relationship with the LORD down, my very life possible only because of the LORD, I’m not me. When I get distracted and take off on my own, forgetting that I am not the source of love and goodness and peace but rather an instrument of love and goodness and peace, I get things wrong, I lose my focus, I lose my ability to bring the LORD to others and others to the LORD, I lose my purpose, I lose me.

Those who know me well also know that this is true because they’ve heard me speak to the LORD out loud as I navigate my days, seek direction, am stirred to awe, or just need to talk about what I’m feeling. Today will be a perfect example, I am sure. It is busy; I will need all the help I can get.

As we continue on our journeys of faith, buoyed by the hope of Christ’s promise that He is with us always, and fueled by the love whose origin is the LORD himself, let us do so in prayer, every step of the way. Let us recognize that prayer isn’t just what we do in the pews, it is our life. The fruitfulness of our existence depends on our connection to our LORD, our recognition of our dependence upon the LORD, for He is the vine, we are only the branches; apart from Him we have no life, and our ability to produce fruit disappears.

Let us consciously seek the LORD in all our moments, all our locations, all our endeavors as recognition that it is “in Him we live and move and have our being.”  

Let us begin our day’s journey in prayer but let us save the “Amen” to our last act before we bid the day goodbye.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.