Then a priestess said, "Speak to us of Prayer."
And he answered, saying:
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray
also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. For what
is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether? And if
it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for
your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot
but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again
and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing. When you
pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very
hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet. Therefore let your visit
to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you
shall not receive. And if you should enter into it to humble yourself
you shall not be lifted: Or even if you should enter into it to beg for
the good of others you shall not be heard. It is enough that you enter
the temple invisible.
I cannot teach you how to pray in words. God
listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your
lips. And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and
the mountains. But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and
the seas can find their prayer in your heart, And if you but listen in
the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence, "Our
God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth. It is
thy desire in us that desireth. It is thy urge in us that would turn our
nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also. We cannot ask
thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."
from "The Prophet"
I am humbled just reading this... "...weeping, until you come laughing..." and "...thou are our need..." Most assuredly... What a blessing you are to find and share all these wonderful posts with us... Blessings to you!
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