Thursday 22 May 2008
Tuesday 20 May 2008
Anyway
A little song I'm working on....
___
How could I ever find a melody so sweet
Or write a song good enough to lay at your feet
Nothing I try will ever be enough
To describe even a fraction of your love
But still I'll sing it anyway
And I'll keep searching for that melody
And though my words seem nothing new
Please let them be
Sweet enough for you
___
How could I ever find a melody so sweet
Or write a song good enough to lay at your feet
Nothing I try will ever be enough
To describe even a fraction of your love
But still I'll sing it anyway
And I'll keep searching for that melody
And though my words seem nothing new
Please let them be
Sweet enough for you
Tuesday 13 May 2008
Day 13 - Songwriting
Day 13, and I can say with excitement that praying with Tam at the end of the day is getting easier and easier and more and more normal.
At first it felt pretty weird. Sad to say, but we don't always talk about spiritual things in our everyday, round-the-house conversation. So it was a bit strange to say, "Ok, let's pray" and then start praying. But we've been doing it now for a bit over a week, and it's become a lot more of a normal everyday thing now. Nice. We'll keep going, then. This is great.
One other thing that I've been thinking about in my times with God over the last few months/years is how much I really want to write some worship songs. I love songwriting, and I love worship, and it's constantly in the back of my head - something I'm really passionate about. But for some reason, it just doesn't happen.
I think the killer for me is that creativity takes time... relaxed time. Lately, I've been so busy that there just hasn't been enough time for being creative at all, like writing songs. Busyness kills creativity. I used to get ideas for songs all the time, and I'd have to quickly write them down on whatever paper or serviette I could find at the time, so I would remember them later. But not so much in the last year. So I've been really trying this month to make sure I get my down time. Prayer time is great for refocusing like this.
And more good news! Since the start of the month, I've been coming up with more ideas for songs. I've discovered the voice recorder on my mobile - great for recording song ideas so I can remember them later! There are a few in there now. Of course, they might be rubbish, but at least they're in there.
If this was the only change that happened in the whole month of prayer, I'd be very happy. This is great stuff.
I'm really looking forward to what other things might come out of Pray in May (maybe a less dorky title for example..? We can only pray....).
At first it felt pretty weird. Sad to say, but we don't always talk about spiritual things in our everyday, round-the-house conversation. So it was a bit strange to say, "Ok, let's pray" and then start praying. But we've been doing it now for a bit over a week, and it's become a lot more of a normal everyday thing now. Nice. We'll keep going, then. This is great.
One other thing that I've been thinking about in my times with God over the last few months/years is how much I really want to write some worship songs. I love songwriting, and I love worship, and it's constantly in the back of my head - something I'm really passionate about. But for some reason, it just doesn't happen.
I think the killer for me is that creativity takes time... relaxed time. Lately, I've been so busy that there just hasn't been enough time for being creative at all, like writing songs. Busyness kills creativity. I used to get ideas for songs all the time, and I'd have to quickly write them down on whatever paper or serviette I could find at the time, so I would remember them later. But not so much in the last year. So I've been really trying this month to make sure I get my down time. Prayer time is great for refocusing like this.
And more good news! Since the start of the month, I've been coming up with more ideas for songs. I've discovered the voice recorder on my mobile - great for recording song ideas so I can remember them later! There are a few in there now. Of course, they might be rubbish, but at least they're in there.
If this was the only change that happened in the whole month of prayer, I'd be very happy. This is great stuff.
I'm really looking forward to what other things might come out of Pray in May (maybe a less dorky title for example..? We can only pray....).
Friday 9 May 2008
Day 9 - Sleep?
So far, this prayer month has been pretty difficult, as far as my daily goals were.
It's been hard work finding time during the day to pray, even with Sacred Space, and Tam & I have prayed together a couple of nights, but certainly not EVERY night.
I don't think prayer should be a regimented kind of thing, like just doing it for the sake of doing it. That's not my aim here. I didn't set these goals so I could see how bad I am at praying; they are just good ideas of what I would like to be doing.
But then, maybe a more regimented way of doing things is actually what I need. Maybe I should set certain times in the day for me to pray, like the monks. I usually get up at 6am when Lily wakes up, so I could read my Bible then and pray for a bit. And then I could get onto Sacred Space for 10minutes at lunch time, 12pm.
Our bed times are all over the shop at the moment. Actually, maybe this is something we could work on.
I think I've realised that to get better at praying, it's not just a matter of squeezing more prayer into my normal days. I really need to make some lifestyle changes as well.
When I pray, I'm a lot more aware of myself. So with the extra prayer that's been going into this month, I've been thinking a bit more about how I'm actually doing. And what I'm noticing is that a lot of the time I am tired. It's hard to pray when I'm tired. I wake up in the morning and feel tired. I stop work halfway through the day to have a break, and within minutes I'm feeling tired. And in the afternoons, when Lily is starting to get cranky, I feel pretty exhausted. Coffee probably would help, but I'd rather keep coffee as something that I LOVE, rather than something I NEED.
I think I need more sleep.
They say you should get 9 hours of sleep a night. For me, that would mean going to bed at 9pm. Hmm... So basically I need to be a grandma.
Well, maybe I can try getting to bed by 10pm every night. 8 hours. Maybe that'll help me a bit.
If only I could convince Lily to wake up at 7am instead of six....
It's been hard work finding time during the day to pray, even with Sacred Space, and Tam & I have prayed together a couple of nights, but certainly not EVERY night.
I don't think prayer should be a regimented kind of thing, like just doing it for the sake of doing it. That's not my aim here. I didn't set these goals so I could see how bad I am at praying; they are just good ideas of what I would like to be doing.
But then, maybe a more regimented way of doing things is actually what I need. Maybe I should set certain times in the day for me to pray, like the monks. I usually get up at 6am when Lily wakes up, so I could read my Bible then and pray for a bit. And then I could get onto Sacred Space for 10minutes at lunch time, 12pm.
Our bed times are all over the shop at the moment. Actually, maybe this is something we could work on.
I think I've realised that to get better at praying, it's not just a matter of squeezing more prayer into my normal days. I really need to make some lifestyle changes as well.
When I pray, I'm a lot more aware of myself. So with the extra prayer that's been going into this month, I've been thinking a bit more about how I'm actually doing. And what I'm noticing is that a lot of the time I am tired. It's hard to pray when I'm tired. I wake up in the morning and feel tired. I stop work halfway through the day to have a break, and within minutes I'm feeling tired. And in the afternoons, when Lily is starting to get cranky, I feel pretty exhausted. Coffee probably would help, but I'd rather keep coffee as something that I LOVE, rather than something I NEED.
I think I need more sleep.
They say you should get 9 hours of sleep a night. For me, that would mean going to bed at 9pm. Hmm... So basically I need to be a grandma.
Well, maybe I can try getting to bed by 10pm every night. 8 hours. Maybe that'll help me a bit.
If only I could convince Lily to wake up at 7am instead of six....
Free Rice Game
I've found a game that you can play for hours and not feel guilty about! Go to www.freerice.com and play the word game there. You learn new words, plus for every one you get right, some rice is donated to the UN World Food Program. Noice.
Thursday 8 May 2008
Day 8 - Prayer Night
Last night we had a prayer night at cell group.
Basically, I just brought a white board, and we wrote up a big list of things that we should pray for, and then we spent time praying for them all. As a little guide, we broke it up into four different areas: the world, the church, us, and anything else.
We spent a lot of time praying for the situation in Burma. We all need to spend time praying for our brothers and sisters over there - they desperately need God's help and provision at the moment, and in the months to come as they try and rebuild everything that was wiped away. For many of the people there, they also lost next year's harvest, so I'm not sure where they're going to get living expenses from next year? Pray for this too.
And we also thought it important to pray for the Church of God as a whole. In general, we've found that people in our country would probably love Jesus if he were here. He'd fit in perfectly in our culture. And yet it seems that his church doesn't really fit in at all. People don't really like the church much. It certainly doesn't seem to have the same life-changing effect that Jesus himself had when he was on earth. This is sad. How could this be, if we're all trying to be like Jesus? We're obviously not quite getting it.
So we need serious prayer.
Actually, even just praying about this kind of made me think more seriously about how I am doing in this area. How much do I look like Jesus? I could definitely do better here. I think I could be a lot more reckless in how I live out my faith - less safe, less hiding in church work. I think my next prayer time should be spent thinking and praying about this.
There were quite a few other things we put up, and we prayed for them all. Actually, I thought it was going to be pretty weird and unnatural to spend a night in prayer, but the time flew by pretty quick.
I'm definitely going to have to lead prayer nights again in the future. God loves our prayer, and he's moved by it (which is powerful!).
Plus, you don't really have to organise much. And it gives our group leaders a night where they don't have to run it too. Everyone wins!
Hooray for Pray in May.
Basically, I just brought a white board, and we wrote up a big list of things that we should pray for, and then we spent time praying for them all. As a little guide, we broke it up into four different areas: the world, the church, us, and anything else.
We spent a lot of time praying for the situation in Burma. We all need to spend time praying for our brothers and sisters over there - they desperately need God's help and provision at the moment, and in the months to come as they try and rebuild everything that was wiped away. For many of the people there, they also lost next year's harvest, so I'm not sure where they're going to get living expenses from next year? Pray for this too.
And we also thought it important to pray for the Church of God as a whole. In general, we've found that people in our country would probably love Jesus if he were here. He'd fit in perfectly in our culture. And yet it seems that his church doesn't really fit in at all. People don't really like the church much. It certainly doesn't seem to have the same life-changing effect that Jesus himself had when he was on earth. This is sad. How could this be, if we're all trying to be like Jesus? We're obviously not quite getting it.
So we need serious prayer.
Actually, even just praying about this kind of made me think more seriously about how I am doing in this area. How much do I look like Jesus? I could definitely do better here. I think I could be a lot more reckless in how I live out my faith - less safe, less hiding in church work. I think my next prayer time should be spent thinking and praying about this.
There were quite a few other things we put up, and we prayed for them all. Actually, I thought it was going to be pretty weird and unnatural to spend a night in prayer, but the time flew by pretty quick.
I'm definitely going to have to lead prayer nights again in the future. God loves our prayer, and he's moved by it (which is powerful!).
Plus, you don't really have to organise much. And it gives our group leaders a night where they don't have to run it too. Everyone wins!
Hooray for Pray in May.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Day 6 - It's Only 10 Minutes, Lily
It's now Day 6 of my month of prayer.
So far I've found it extremely difficult to do much praying. Even just getting onto Sacred Space for only 10 minutes has been a challenge. Each time I've managed to steal some time, Lily (my 1-year-old daughter) has been loudly expressing her neediness to me in the background. For goodness sake, child - it's only 10 minutes! Does it count if you ignore your child when you pray? Maybe not. God loves little children.
Actually, a couple of days ago when I was struggling to pray (and Lily was letting me know what that she would prefer it if I played with her), I actually felt like Jesus was saying, "Ben, just play with her. That's what I'd be doing."
Fair point, God.
If you can't see Jesus in your little daughter, how could you possibly see him in anything else?
I really do feel connected with God sometimes when I'm just hanging out with Lily, or sitting around with my wife, Tam. This might be something I could try and notice more this month.
It seems to be more often when we're doing something relaxing together, like reading a book to Lily, or just sitting chatting, or going for a walk. This month, I'll try and initiate a few more of these times.
So far I've found it extremely difficult to do much praying. Even just getting onto Sacred Space for only 10 minutes has been a challenge. Each time I've managed to steal some time, Lily (my 1-year-old daughter) has been loudly expressing her neediness to me in the background. For goodness sake, child - it's only 10 minutes! Does it count if you ignore your child when you pray? Maybe not. God loves little children.
Actually, a couple of days ago when I was struggling to pray (and Lily was letting me know what that she would prefer it if I played with her), I actually felt like Jesus was saying, "Ben, just play with her. That's what I'd be doing."
Fair point, God.
If you can't see Jesus in your little daughter, how could you possibly see him in anything else?
I really do feel connected with God sometimes when I'm just hanging out with Lily, or sitting around with my wife, Tam. This might be something I could try and notice more this month.
It seems to be more often when we're doing something relaxing together, like reading a book to Lily, or just sitting chatting, or going for a walk. This month, I'll try and initiate a few more of these times.
Saturday 3 May 2008
Pray in May
I've decided to spend this month focussing on PRAYER.
I think this might be the most important thing lacking in my life at the moment. I mean, sure, I pray, but enough? I don't remember a time in my life when I thought to myself "Yes, I pray enough now." Maybe I'll never get to a time like that.
But I've just been bombarded over and over again in the last few months with the message of how important prayer is. I even preached a message myself on this exact topic.
I know it's important.
- Prayer brings us more in line with God's thoughts, feelings, actions.
- Prayer connects us with the creator of the universe, the only one who knows how it works best, the only one who knows how we work best, and how we're really going.
- And God also connects with us through prayer. When we pray, God can help us to see what our next move might be, or what we could focus on next.
- Prayer unleashes God's power. When we pray, God works. Simple as that. God answers prayer.
There are so many reasons why prayer might just be THE most important thing we could ever do.
But unfortunately, prayer is also very easily crowded out of our lives, and I think that's what's happened to me. So I'm trying to change that. I don't want to get to the end of my life and think, "Well, that was good, but God could have used me so much more if I'd only prayed more."
I've called this month "Pray in May". Tacky, I know. Well, at least it rhymes.
Every day I'm going to pray with Sacred Space (www.sacredspace.ie).
I'm going to try to pray every night with my wife before we go to sleep.
Next week I've organised that I will lead our small group meeting, and I'm going to make it a prayer night.
Sometime this month I think it might be good for me to have some kind of small retreat kind of thing, maybe just for half a day or something.
And I'm still thinking of something for the youth group - some kind of prayer night. Still working on that one.
Anyway, that's a few ideas. The other thing I'm going to try and do is a bit of journalling, just to write down the things that I'm praying, and things that God might be saying.
So here we go.
Pray in May. Should be a great month!
I think this might be the most important thing lacking in my life at the moment. I mean, sure, I pray, but enough? I don't remember a time in my life when I thought to myself "Yes, I pray enough now." Maybe I'll never get to a time like that.
But I've just been bombarded over and over again in the last few months with the message of how important prayer is. I even preached a message myself on this exact topic.
I know it's important.
- Prayer brings us more in line with God's thoughts, feelings, actions.
- Prayer connects us with the creator of the universe, the only one who knows how it works best, the only one who knows how we work best, and how we're really going.
- And God also connects with us through prayer. When we pray, God can help us to see what our next move might be, or what we could focus on next.
- Prayer unleashes God's power. When we pray, God works. Simple as that. God answers prayer.
There are so many reasons why prayer might just be THE most important thing we could ever do.
But unfortunately, prayer is also very easily crowded out of our lives, and I think that's what's happened to me. So I'm trying to change that. I don't want to get to the end of my life and think, "Well, that was good, but God could have used me so much more if I'd only prayed more."
I've called this month "Pray in May". Tacky, I know. Well, at least it rhymes.
Every day I'm going to pray with Sacred Space (www.sacredspace.ie).
I'm going to try to pray every night with my wife before we go to sleep.
Next week I've organised that I will lead our small group meeting, and I'm going to make it a prayer night.
Sometime this month I think it might be good for me to have some kind of small retreat kind of thing, maybe just for half a day or something.
And I'm still thinking of something for the youth group - some kind of prayer night. Still working on that one.
Anyway, that's a few ideas. The other thing I'm going to try and do is a bit of journalling, just to write down the things that I'm praying, and things that God might be saying.
So here we go.
Pray in May. Should be a great month!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)