Thursday, March 3, 2011
Las Trajineras de Xochimilco
Las Trajineras are similar to Gondolas from Italy. They are boats that are "propelled" by a man with a very long stick. In Mexico City, there is a river that runs through the section of Xochimilco and there you can rent a boat and a Trajinero (the man to propel the boat). In January a group of us went for one of our weekly social activities. We had a great time and we were even accompanied by another boat of Mariachi Musicians. They played music for us as we sailed down the river. ...This means there was dancing, of course!
The Praying Life
In the Program Study, I am reading the book "The Praying Life" by Paul Miller. I have learned a lot about prayer and communion with God.
The first section of the book talks about typical prayer lives, or lack there of, and how we don't come before the Lord because of cynicism or fear. Miller talks about how we have to re-learn to be child-like and come to God messy and unafraid to ask.
Later on in the book Miller discusses being in communion with God "all the time" and what it means when "God's Kingdom Comes" (a phrase from the Lord's prayer). He tells the story of when He was going away for a weekend to speak at a conference. For the first time, he took his daughter with severe autism along with him. On Friday, as they were in the airport and then on the plane, his daughter had several extreme "melt-downs" in front of everyone. Miller's first reaction was "I am NEVER doing this again". But then as God spoke to Miller's heart, Miller realized that "God's Kingdom had come". God had used this situation to humble Miller before he went on to be the center of attention at the conference, to remind him of his need for God, to remind him of his sinful human nature, AND to allow Miller to serve his wife by giving her a weekend break from caring for their daughter. Miller's focus had been on Saturday when he would be speaking; when he would be the center of attention.... but God's Kingdom came before the conference; God's Kingdom came in a moment of humility, of frustration, and stress.
The point of always being in communion with God is that He uses EVERY situation for our good, even the tiny, little, ugly ones. Sometimes the situations seem bad or frustrating to us, but maybe God is building our character or teaching us to trust Him or maybe He is giving us an unexpected gift. God is such a loving father that He does not want to leave us in our natural sinful states...He wants to change us, change our character, and He uses every opportunity to do so! We when we are not in communion with Him through prayer, or not aware that He is always working, we miss out in the mist of becoming angry, trying to control things, or trying making things "better"!
What blessing and hope we have in this.
The first section of the book talks about typical prayer lives, or lack there of, and how we don't come before the Lord because of cynicism or fear. Miller talks about how we have to re-learn to be child-like and come to God messy and unafraid to ask.
Later on in the book Miller discusses being in communion with God "all the time" and what it means when "God's Kingdom Comes" (a phrase from the Lord's prayer). He tells the story of when He was going away for a weekend to speak at a conference. For the first time, he took his daughter with severe autism along with him. On Friday, as they were in the airport and then on the plane, his daughter had several extreme "melt-downs" in front of everyone. Miller's first reaction was "I am NEVER doing this again". But then as God spoke to Miller's heart, Miller realized that "God's Kingdom had come". God had used this situation to humble Miller before he went on to be the center of attention at the conference, to remind him of his need for God, to remind him of his sinful human nature, AND to allow Miller to serve his wife by giving her a weekend break from caring for their daughter. Miller's focus had been on Saturday when he would be speaking; when he would be the center of attention.... but God's Kingdom came before the conference; God's Kingdom came in a moment of humility, of frustration, and stress.
The point of always being in communion with God is that He uses EVERY situation for our good, even the tiny, little, ugly ones. Sometimes the situations seem bad or frustrating to us, but maybe God is building our character or teaching us to trust Him or maybe He is giving us an unexpected gift. God is such a loving father that He does not want to leave us in our natural sinful states...He wants to change us, change our character, and He uses every opportunity to do so! We when we are not in communion with Him through prayer, or not aware that He is always working, we miss out in the mist of becoming angry, trying to control things, or trying making things "better"!
What blessing and hope we have in this.
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