Praying Without Accounting
There’s no accounting for prayer.
“Those pray unceasingly who combine prayer with necessary duties and duties with prayer. Only in this way can we find it practicable to fulfill the commandment to pray always. It consists in regarding the whole of Christian existence as a single great prayer. What we are accustomed to call prayer is only a part of it.”
- Origen, “On Prayer”
Finding ways to do this has been my personal focus lately. An awareness that facilitates this prayer is what I seek. The problem I have had is feeling as if this counts as prayer, giving myself credit for having prayed by simply offering up my mundane activities in prayer.
Of course this is the kind of meddling bullshit my ego introduces into all things. It’s not prayer unless I can count it, track it, claim credit for it….
Maybe the key to praying without ceasing is to quit trying to claim credit, quit paying attention to the artificial division between what is “not prayer” and what is “prayer.” Maybe the key to praying without ceasing is praying without accounting.
Hi Cody,
We hope you and Heidi are doing great! Remember us from CEE? We thought of you today when we heard the expression “moist towlette” on T.V. I looked over at John and said, “remember Cody used to say that?”
I took a chance, did a Google search “Cody Clark Future” and here you were. Write back…
Belinda
Comment by Belinda and Juan Martinez — Thursday, July 27, 2006 @ 3:15 am
I’m a little chagrined to be remembered by, of all things, the phrase “Moist Towlette”
But it is nice to hear from you. I’m grateful for whatever path got you to my obscure little blog.
Comment by cody — Thursday, July 27, 2006 @ 1:48 pm