When this little hen walked over to my car and stared up into my open driver’s side window, I thought I was finally going to uncover one of the biggest secrets of all time: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Alas, this chicken wasn’t talking. She clucked a little, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I will say this: Based on my observations of her slow and somewhat erratic movements, her goal was, in fact, simply to get to the other side.
We’re going on a field trip today. Over to Huffington Post, where you’ll find me writing about prayer. Just call me HuffPoust. Why the foray so far afield? Well, HuffPo invited me to write about prayer in connection with my newest book, The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass. So today I’m covering “What’s the Point of Prayer?” I’ll start you off here and let you continue over there:
By Mary DeTurris Poust
Most of us, at one time or another, send up a prayer and hope against hope for the answer we want. And more often than not, we wait and wonder, as we continually check our spiritual inbox for some sort of sign, if perhaps our prayer fell on deaf ears, or on any ears at all. Hello? Is this thing on?
Unfortunately, prayer is not like a gumball machine. We don’t put our prayers in and then wait with cupped hands for the correct response to come pouring out.
Prayer can be a tricky thing, even for those who do it religiously, so to speak. We can get the feeling we’re not doing it right or that we have to be holier in order to pray. Not the case. Blessed Pope John Paul II once said: “How to pray? This is a simple matter. I would say: Pray any way you like so long as you pray.”
So on that note, let’s look at the five most common questions people ask me about prayer:
1. My life is already so jam-packed with responsibilities. How can I add daily prayer to the list?
Prayer is not meant to be a chore and certainly shouldn’t become one more stress. Continue reading HERE.
“The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist. The beginner’s humility and openness lead to exploration. Exploration leads to accomplishment. All of it begins at the beginning, with the first small and scary step.” — Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
I’ve been working my way through The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Creativity, a book I first gave to my brother years and years ago, and then borrowed back, and then left on a shelf for about the last five years. It’s a 12-week process of focusing on creativity and trying to unblock the stuff that’s been pushed down over the years by the things we come to believe about ourselves.
I have to admit that many days, when I sat down to do my “Morning Pages,” a daily writing requirement that’s part of the book, I thought: “This is stupid. This is a waste of time. This won’t get me anywhere.” But since Cameron warns that it’s likely you’ll feel exactly that way as you begin this process, I stuck it out. Not always in a straight line from one day to the next, from one week to the next, but here I am in Week 8, which felt, at the outset, like a totally useless chapter for me. And then, lo and behold, as I sat down this morning, mumbling that the reading would be pointless, I came upon that quote at the top of this post: “The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist.”
And I felt myself open a bit. And I continued reading, and with every line more and more this chapter seemed to be just what I needed to read. Funny how that works. So back to the quote and why it stopped me in my tracks.
I’m not good at being a beginner. I want to be an expert from Day One. No matter what I’m doing. Even when I’m doing something I’ve never done before. Not sure where that mentality comes from, but, boy, is it a stumbling block. To expect perfection in everything is a surefire path to “failure,” or to not trying at all. Often times, when we expect — demand — perfection, we do nothing instead. Doing nothing rather than doing something less than perfect is really a very poor choice. But, sadly, it is a frequent choice for far too many of us.
And yet, and yet, and yet. I often will throw myself into the craziest things I have no business trying. (Of course, Cameron would say that thinking I have no business trying something new and unusual is exactly the kind of attitude that keeps us from being creative.) For example, last night was my third hip hop class, a ridiculous activity for a 48-year-old non-dancer who wants to be perfect at everything. So I guess somewhere under the facade is a willingness to be be un-perfect in order to try something new, to be a beginner. Maybe it’s the fact that hip hop is such an outrageous choice for someone like me that it’s obvious I have no chance to be perfect, so the pressure is off. Much easier, say, than something that might involve anything I actually have had lessons or classes or background in — singing, guitar, fiction writing, praying.
The grace to be a beginner….What thing have you always wanted to do that might open you up to that kind of grace?
When I read that line this morning, even though it was related to “art,” I immediately associated it with prayer. Because there, too, I need the willingness and the grace to be a beginner, not to expect too much too soon, to sit there and be open to whatever might unfold, to come back day after day even when it feels like I’m not progressing and just practice my “craft,” the craft of praying.
This week has been a good week for me in that department. I’m closing in on almost a full week of praying Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is big for me. I usually get frustrated and give up for one reason or another. But this week, in the early morning hours before anyone else is awake, I work on my two MPs — Morning Pages and Morning Prayer — out on the deck or in the sun porch. And slowly, slowly I have found a rhythm there that feels right, one I hope I can keep up for good. And as soon as that thought enters my mind, I realize I’m heading right back to the quest for perfection instead of living in this moment, praying in this moment one day at a time. “Don’t worry about tomorrow…” (Mt 6:34)
The grace to be a beginner…Find one thing today and simply begin. No long-range goal in mind, no image of perfection in your mind’s eye. Just begin at the beginning and see what wonderful, unexpected places it takes you.
As a complement to my new Foodie Friday weekly post, I’ve decided to add in Manic Monday, sort of like bookends for the weekend. What’s Manic Monday? It’s a bunch of quick blasts that will cover different topics, from music I’m listening to and books I’m reading to photos and interesting quotes. It’s a blog buffet. All you can read.
Soundtrack…Adele, Adele and more Adele, courtesy of my two girls, who love, love, love this young and talented artist. Specifically they play and replay Rolling in the Deep, Rumor Has It, and Turning Tables. I’ve got cool kids.
Bookshelf…I just finished Everything Beautiful Began After: A Novel by Simon Van Booy. I discovered this book by accident in a shop at the Orlando airport when our flight was delayed for hours and hours — a reminder that having a book on a shelf where people can catch an interesting cover, feel the pages, read a few paragraphs is how you sell books. I never would have found this book just scrolling around Amazon. I loved it — beautiful, poetic, thoughtful. Everything I want in a good novel.
Favorite line: “Loneliness is like being the only person left alive in the universe, except that everyone else is still here.”
I’m also re-reading I Will Not Die an Unlived Life by Dawna Markova. This is an amazing book about living life to the fullest and being true to yourself and the people you love. I couldn’t pick a favorite line from this one because the whole dang thing is my favorite. If you could see it, you’d know by the ridiculous amount of underlining throughout.
Viewfinder…A scene from Chiara’s sixth birthday party at Del Lanes. Thirteen kids, four lanes, three pizzas, one cake, lots of fun. This one captures all three of my kids in motion, and yet none of them are actually bowling:
Roll tape…This weekend I finally got around to watching Of Gods and Men, the true story of a group of Cistercian monks living in Algeria under the threat of death by Muslim extremists. I won’t tell you much more about the plot because I don’t want to post any spoilers. I will say this, as I said on Facebook this weekend: I wish everyone I know could see this film. It is an incredibly powerful film about courage, faith and love. If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s the big deal about the Catholic faith, what that faith looks like at its very best, watch this movie. Even if you don’t like movies with subtitles. It’s a truly beautiful film. By the time I got to the scene near the end where they are listening to Swan Lake and taking a sip of wine, I was sobbing.
Mangia…Cross another item off our Beach Bucket List. We finally had homemade waffles and ice cream. Doesn’t this look yummy?
