The Well and the Lift Station ...
Spirituality, prayer and spiritual disciplines (prophetic listening, meditation, fasting, journaling.

To Stir the Waters of Heart and Mind In prayer, man pours himself out, dependent without reservation, knowing that, incomprehesibly, he acts on God, albeit without exacting anything from God. * Martin Buber, I and Thou * * * * * * God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done. * Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer * * * * * * Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must touch the heart of God. * Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit * * * * * * Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest within themselves. * Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man * * * * * * The first duty of love is to listen. *Paul Tillich, * * * * * * When thought is without affective intention, when it begins and ends in the intelligence, it does not lead to prayer, to love or to communion. * Thomas Merton, Spiritual Direction and Meditation  * * * * * * Deep within us all there is an amazing sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return.  Eternity is in our hearts, pressing upon our time-worn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. * Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion * * * * * * The basis of true self-surrender is a proper self-love.  Without a regard for the nature and dignity of the self, how can there be a genuine self-offering? * Alan Jones, Soul Making  * * * * * * We who are facing a world of unleashed savagery must for our life's sake plunge into the immortal living Presence, melt into that healing freedom from the world that lies within. There, guarded by courage and humility, is Christ, and going to that place of holiness and light is all that is asked of you. * Mary Strong, Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood * * * * * * Continually stir up the gift of God which is in you, not only by continuing to hear His word at all opportunities, but by reading, by meditation, and above all by private prayer.  Though sometimes it should be a grievous cross, yet bear your cross and it will bear you:  your labor shall not be in vain. *John Wesley,  A Letter to Mrs. Woodhouse * * * * * * The self, always one's worst enemy, often wonders without guidance in the unknown territory of prayer.  "Such is the way of those who foolishly  trust in themselves" (Ps. 49:12) brought me up short one day and turned my meditation into that sinkhole of ego, that all-absorbing self I recognized as the true barrier to prayer, myself.  Worse was my reliance on the prose that comes from me, because the verse concludes: "and the end of those who delight in their own words. Ones own words: how tricky, even deceptive, they are, how lacking authenticity, how far from exact.  How foolish I was to trust them to lead me toward a sense of God. *Dois Grumbach, The Presence of Absence * * * * * * And what is more, all that God does is done without the least expectation of a payment on the part of the faithful.  This is precisely what the word, grace, means. *James P. Carse, The Silence of God * * * * * * I went to my room and got down on my knees in prayer. Never before had I prayed with such ernestness. I wish I could repeat my prayer. I felt that I must put all my trust in Almighty God. He gave our people the best country ever given to men. He alone could save it from destruction. *Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Major General Daniel V. Sickles after the Battle of Gettysburg * * * * * * However great may be the temptation, if we know how to use the weapon of prayer well, we shall come off conquerors at last, for prayer is more powerful than all the devils. *Bernard of Clairvaux * * * * * * Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. *Mohandas K. Gandhi, Non-Violence in Peace and War

Queries (Questions) and Advice about Prayer as well as Spiritual Disciplines These are offered as a "start" and not a "finish" for your consideration. You are encouraged to come to your own answer for each question, and to frame whatever other questions that might help you in your explorations. The Primary Question: Do you recognize that your knowledge and exercise of prayer and spiritual disciplines is a reflection of your deepest assumptions about who God is and about how God lives, about who you are and about how you live, as well as about how the two of you relate to one another? Attendant questions about God: What sort of God do you believe in? How would you characterize God? What sort of being do you believe God to be at the deepest core? Is God fearsome, destructive, intimidating, coercive, punitive, vengeful, exclusive, miserly, distant, aloof, or simply disinterested? Is God loving, creative, compassionate, merciful, kind, intimate, conciliatory, helpful, generous, joyous, and involved in all of life? Does God do everything? Does God do nothing? Is God totally consistent? Is God paradoxical? Is God someone with whom you can talk? Is God someone to whom you can listen? Is what must be communicated between you and God something so intimate and profound that it lies beyond mere words? How is God reaching out to you? Attendant questions about you: What sort of human being do you believe you are? Who are you in the deepest depths of your being? In what condition is the very core of who you are? How would you characterize yourself in relationship to God, in relationship to others, and in relationship to yourself? Are you good, bad, beautiful, ugly, fearsome, fearful, loved, hated, distant, involved, aloof, intimate, miserly, generous, creative, destructive, loving or disinterested? Must you do everything? Must you do nothing? Are you willing to talk to God? Are you willing to listen to God? Are you willing to search out those bits and pieces of yourself that are so intimate and profound that they lie beyond mere words? How are you reaching out to God? A Primary question: Have you examined your assumptions about prayer and other spiritual disciplines to know how they might either help or hinder your relationship to God, to others or to yourself? Attendant questions about prayer: What do you think it means to pray? Have you given thought to not only the "what," but the "when," "where," "why," and "how" of prayer? Is prayer all talk? How might prayer be other than talk? What would it mean for prayer to be listening? Is prayer primarily a type of intellectual (left-brained) exercise? What would it mean for prayer to be a wholistic (spirit, mind, and body) experience? When should a person pray; only on certain days or at certain hours; only at such times that trouble presses or danger threatens; during times of confusion or doubt or fear; on the occasion of grief or loss; in the midst of joy, success or other gratifying moments? Are there places beyond "official" worship spaces (temples, churches, meeting houses, etc.) in which it is appropriate and permissible to pray? Are there certain words and actions that are required by prayer? In short, what do you do when you pray and what does God do when you pray? Attendant questions about spiritual disciplines: Have you seriously considered your need to care for your spirit, and to nuture your spiritual growth in both your internal  (thoughts, feelings, values, and will), and external life (making what you do in your actions reflect your internal ideals)? Have you developed an informed notion of what spiritual disciplines are, especially other than prayer, and do you practice one or more of them in your efforts to nurture your inner-most growth? Have you considered that listening (listening prophetically in the sense of waiting to hear God's intention for you and for your life with others) is an important aspect of your relationship to God? Daily, do you spend time reading those writings which are considered Holy Scripture? Have you read the Bible through at least once completely? Have you read the Apocrypha through at least once completely? Do you have a regular, daily time set aside for prayer, Bible reading, and devotions? Have you taken the opportunity to acquaint yourself with the several Christian traditions and methods of meditation? Do you practice any of them? Are you acquainted with the Christian approaches to fasting (which put the needs of self second to the needs of others) and do you practice fasting as a way to relieve the need of others who are hungry, naked, poor or otherwise destitute of fundamental human comfort? Have you considered consciously reaching out, in ways other than financial support, to others who are hungry, naked, poor, or otherwise destitute of fundamental human comfort? Have you given your time and energy and presence to food banks, soup kitchens, clothing exchanges, shelter houses and other such efforts to aid those in need? Do you spend time in reading and disciplined consideration of the spiritual and other writings of Christians (the early church Fathers, the desert Fathers, the Reformers and others) who have left their witness throughout the ages? Do you practice maintaining a journal as method of spiritual discipline and growth?