Month: October 2021

“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that God will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

These words of Mother Teresa reflect how her approach to prayer evolved as she grew older and had more life experiences.  When she says she prays that God will guide her to do whatever she is supposed to do and what she is able to do, she is affirming her faith.  Asking for and receiving direction from our Creator are essential to living a purposeful life.  And acknowledging that we are only able to do whatever direction we are given because our Creator makes it possible for us to do that is a truth we need to embrace.

When I was a young adult I would sometimes question whether I should pray, mostly because I wondered whether praying would have any effect.  As a child I was taught and I still do believe that our Creator determines what does or doesn’t happen, and therefore it seemed to me that praying wouldn’t make a difference.  I’ve continued to pray, however, both because Jesus prayed and taught people to pray and because praying is one of the ways that I feel a connection to the Divine.  I also believe that heartfelt praying adds positive and healing energy to our world.  I pray each day–praying for family members and friends, praying for all the people and creatures in our world who are suffering, saying prayers of thanksgiving, praying for causes that I believe matter, and praying for guidance.

Mother Teresa’s words that “prayer changes us” and that by being changed we are able to “change things” are insightful.  The positive and healing energy of prayer and our sense of connection to the Divine when we pray, combined with our hope and desire to do our part to make this a better world, all help to bring about changes within ourselves.  It’s important to acknowledge such changes with humility, for they are gifts.  And it is through being changed that we are more able to hear inner guidance, to access our creativity, including to do creative problem solving, to take action, and to persevere as we do our best to act on the guidance we’ve been given.  And thus to do our part to “change things,” to use Mother Teresa’s words, for the better.

“My obligation is to do the right thing.  The rest is in God’s hands.”

This quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks of purpose and of faith.  Having both are essential to living in a meaningful way.

In order to find our purpose we need to try to discern the messages of our inner voice.  We do this by paying attention to intuitive promptings, writing down our dreams and being open to what the images and actions of our dreams might symbolize, recognizing as gifts from the universe unexpected happenings that lead us to make positive changes, and noticing synchronistic occurrences and their possible meanings.  It’s also important to remember that what our ego wants to have or to do can be deceptive, sometimes seeming to be inner direction when it isn’t.  Therefore, we need to become more adept at distinguishing ego desires from inner guidance.  And we need to pray to our Creator to help us to discern those things we were created to do and to help us to do them.

I recently watched a film, part of which depicted some of the peaceful protesting that people did during the 1960s civil rights movement.  It included Dr. King preparing the people who would participate in the protests by teaching them about nonviolent resistance and guiding them to be as ready as possible for what they would experience.  The film also included footage from the actual occurrences that took place during that time.  As I watched the peaceful protesters being attacked by angry white people and by the police but not fighting back, I thought about the courage that took.  The courage to put oneself in a dangerous situation because it was essential to such an important cause.  They had courage to do the right thing.

It also takes courage to leave the rest in God’s hands, to have that belief and faith.  It’s natural to wonder about and question why some things happen in our world.  And yet the only person’s actions over which we have control are our own.  Which is why it is essential to discern from within what we need to do and try our best to do what we discern.  That is how we do our part in making this a better world.  And the more people who do that, the greater difference it will make.