Learning to Stand Still

In one of my all time favorite books, I Asked For Wonder, the late Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote,

“To pray

is to know how to stand still

and to dwell upon a word.”

For me, this looks like sitting still and taking a few deep breaths. Inviting a word or words to slither into my mind’s eye. Then I whisper a summons to the unutterable within the utterable. To work up a hunger for that which is underneath words like… HOPE. LOVE. JUSTICE. GRACE. PEACE. These words have been pleading with us to excavate their soul, to uncover their essence, and then to live out their depth in our world, today.

So, I guess this is my prayer. To learn how to stand still and sink into the depths of these words, that I would absorb them and then offer them to a world that has tipped over. Care to join me?