Prayer

Hands
Originally uploaded by mincaye.

Form 6 begins tomorrow, so this is the final entry of my five-month holiday that began in December.

T.S. Eliot wrote, in the fifth and final stave of his poem 'Little Gidding';

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

As I remember my beginning, my childhood, raised in a Christian family, I recall this song:

Read your Bible, pray everyday
Pray everyday, pray everyday
Read your Bible, pray everyday
If you want to grow

More than a decade down the road, I have failed to keep these two simple disciplines. Recently, I've gotten back on track reading the Bible, but I cannot say the same of my prayer life.

Tee Ming always reminds me of the importance -- no, essential-ness -- of prayer, and when I read that Bono 'likes to pray,' I am ashamed. For all the complex theories I have grasped, and the complicated life I have assumed, I have allowed the foundation to slip away...

Indeed, I have Alissa to thank for initiating the d'NA prayer partnerships this year. And I simply must partner with someone as soon as possible.

And it is no accident that I'm at the front page of the 7th chapter of Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy, "The Community of Prayerful Love," which is the longest chapter of the book, after not touching it for quite a while.

Maybe, even as I embark on this new beginning into the sixth form, God is reminding me of the very beginning -- to return to my roots and become as a child, and to one day sing Steven Curtis Chapman's "Let Us Pray" with all that is in me:

I hear you say your heart is aching
You've got trouble in the making
And you ask if I'll be praying for you please
And in keeping with convention
I'll say yes with good intentions
To pray later making mention of your needs
But since we have this moment here at heaven's door
We should start knocking now, what are we waiting for?

Let us pray, let us pray
everywhere in every way
Every moment of the day
it is the right time
For the Father above
he is listening with love
And He wants to answer us
so let us pray

So when we feel the Spirit moving
Prompting, prodding and behooving
There is no time to be losing, let us pray
Let the Father hear us saying
What we need to be conveying
Even while this song is playing, let us pray
And just because we say the word, "Amen"
It doesn't mean this conversation needs to end

Let us pray, let us pray
everywhere in every way
Every moment of the day
it is the right time
Let us pray without end
and when we finish start again
Like breathing out and breathing in
let us pray

Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence
As our prayers draw us near
To the One who know our needs
Before we even call His name

So I take my leave here, and I ask the Lord to keep me throughout tonight, and the days to come.

And I remember Max Lucado's words: "If ever my hands are clenched, let them be in prayer."

Selamat malam, semua.