Wednesday, December 31, 2014

12/31/14... The Last Day of the Year, Part III

'Tis the last day of the year. And much has happened today. The first post was about the day in general, my comings and goings. The second post peeled back a few layers, and I blogged about what was one of the major thoughts on my mind about the year.

And this post reaches just a bit deeper.

This year, I have looked at things in my prayer life, and moreso how it, my prayer life, has evolved.

Earlier this year, in January, our pastor wanted us to consider the Jabez prayer and elements thereof, and include it in our prayer or confession time. Simple enough. This is pretty popular, but it was from the perspective of prayer for daily blessing and protection, with the emphasis on the word daily. We need what we need daily for the day. Whatever provision for that day.  Pray about it. Simple enough.

So I did that. Let's look at my daily prayer in January.

Bless me today Lord. 
Bless me, bless me, bless me. 
Enlarge my territory. 
Enlarge my coast. 
Keep me from the evil of the day that it grieves me not. 
And bless my family today, Lord. 
In Jesus name, Amen.

Simple enough.

But over the course of the year, though.... this past 365 days...

I've been doing a TON of reading. I mean a ton.

Spiritual stuff.

And because I'm a scientist... I've been reading scientific stuff.

And some of that scientific stuff is sooooooo deep that it skims up into spiritual stuff.  It hits a spiritual ceiling and breaks through it.

I've been reading something, then I will go look up a scripture that I never understood before and be like "Ohhhhh, NOW I understand that piece of scripture."

The Bible is WAY ahead of it's time. Good grief.

Now, I know it's a *crickets* moment when I am reading something and the author himself says the scientific principle of discussion is actually spiritual.

I read a really high level applied mathematics book concerning fractal geometry. And all throughout, I was thinking "This is spiritual right here."  And then the author mentions it. Not going into detail at all, because us scientific types not suppose to believe in anything, you know.

I haven't posted much of anything about it here on blog. It's a bit too deep off the pages. I know I have read in excess of 10 books. No more than 20. But it's a lot of books. I have just been pondering it to myself.

But you know what was interesting?

It has somehow changed that prayer above.

You want to know what it's changed to?

Well here you go:

Oh I trust you today Lord!
I trust you to bless me, bless me, bless me Lord!
I trust you to enlarge my territory, 
I trust you to enlarge my coast- spiritually, physically, mentally, financially, emotionally.
I trust you to keep me from the evil of the day so that it grieves me not!
I trust you to put your arms around my shoulders
And be the covering you always are
A covering with no holes and no flaws!
I trust you to give me this day my daily bread, to give me what I need for this day. 
I am a container today, fit for your use today Lord. 
I am a container with no holes!
I trust you to use me today, Lord, to pour into the lives of others. 
I trust you today Lord to express a dimension of your personality through me, 
A dimension that has never been expressed. 
I trust you to send someone my way today, to fill me in, Lord, to fill my container. 
I am unique today, Lord. Today, tomorrow and forever. 
Bless my family and friends today, Lord. 

And then I will take communion... because I have a gazillion communion cups around here...  That is usually only half of the time, if I am thinking about it.

There they are on top of the microwave.



(There they are, in front of my roll of parchment paper. Just you know I'm telling the truth, lol).

I don't take communion every day. Just when I think about it. Even got a few cups stashed off in a baggie in the glove compartment of the Lexus...

And I plead the blood of Jesus over every crook, cranny and crevice of my life and over the lives of whoever is on my mind at the moment - friends, family, and their situations. I pray for peace and resolution. For clarity. Because I have a blood bought right to ALL that. All of it.

In Jesus name,
Amen.

(I am reading a book right now detailing how the most important part of the prayer is "Amen".  That is... interesting. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. Never thought of it like that.)

I am just amazed at how much that prayer has morphed from something simple and rote in the beginning of the year, to something that is much more deeper, a deeper culmination of thoughts and considerations stirred up by all the things I've been reading, whether it be scientific or spiritual... whether it's from my daily bible reading, from some verse of scripture (that whole container part), or from a high level mathematics book on fractal geometry (that whole dimension part). I read a section of a book on trust that completely blew my mind. So I've been pondering that too.

And I was watching a sermon on marriage. I'm not married, so I remember thinking, well shoot... I ain't married this is a waste of time. And I was hanging out on the couch, using that sermon as background noise, fiddling around with texting someone on my phones and I heard something interesting... If you don't have a husband who's your covering, then God is your covering. And he's a covering with no holes and no flaws.

Interesting. I thought about that for days. And days. And still more days.

Pondering is the thing this scientific mind does. Too much sometimes... but in these cases, it's just enough.

And I will carry my pontifications over into this next year of 2015.

Don't get it twisted now. That which I wrote may comprise a good 10% of my prayers. I pray about more stuff. That's just a common core I've noticed all year. And I like it.

It makes me want to pull out my Obama Church fan and sang and do some church shouts and church jogs in the corner.


(Yes, my bootleg homemade church fan.)

I will watch my prayers bloom even more.  And I will discover more layers... and I will see more great things manifest from it, as I have seen in the year 2014.

So there you have it... 3 posts on the last day of the year.

Part I was the physical, the daily going ons = BODY.
Part II was the mental = SOUL
Part III was the spiritual = SPIRIT

Each is all of me. I hope you got a little something out of it, seeing as I like being a container, pouring something into people. Something good.

And with that, I say good-bye to 2014...

And hello to a New Year...

2015.

And all that it has for me... for us.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this! I should go back and "audit" my prayer journals from this year and just read some of the things I was praying about. I know that a big part of transformation in my prayers was gratitude and contentment. I can see that they may have started off with me expressing a need or a worry but even when the way I wanted the prayer to be answered didn't happen, I notice that I've done more "Thank you for the path and purpose you have me on. Thank you for all that you are working out for me that I know nothing of. Thank you for where I am right now." And I have to say that more and more I'm grateful for my children. I find myself thanking God often for entrusting me with being their mom. It just feels like an honor.

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  2. You are awesome. I have read this blog for many years. I have had many thoughts and Ah-moments. You know I love your Food for Thought posts. Even love the contest giveaways. You inspire me. I am like Wow I can listen to Lisa talk forever. Smh. Just know your posts are not on vain and you have been an awesome vessel for God.

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Slap the *crickets* out the way, kindly step up to the mike, and SAY something!!