You Lose Control When You Hold Too Tight

Sabbath ceasing [means] to cease not only from work itself, but also from the need to accomplish and be productive, from the worry and tension that accompany our modern criterion of efficiency, from our efforts to be in control of our lives as if we were God, from our possessiveness and our enculturation, and finally, from the humdrum and meaninglessness that result when life is pursued without the Lord at the center of it all.

- Marva J. Dawn
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly

I would love to do a nice jokey blog for April Fools, but I've not been feeling so jokey. I've had a hard day, relationship-wise, dental-wise and work-wise, and so when I found this quote in my Sojo-mail it really helped.

Two days ago I finished the book Eat Pray Love. I think that this is a book that will stick in my head for quite some time. Although some critique the book based on the fact that Liz is unable to look past herself and her issues, the entire premise of the book is that she has hit such a low point in her life that she must escape, run as far as she can, to rediscover herself--and to find God in the midst of it all. I was most interested in what she has to say about India, where she goes on a spiritual retreat at an Ashram run by her guru. Now, I don't know how much I want to be into Indian spirituality, but I do like yoga...and what I liked the most was her struggle to stop talking at God and learn to listen to God.

And Liz has huge control issues. Huge. I identify. I need to keep reminding myself...let go...let go...rest in God. Rest in the fact that God is in control. Not me.

Now if someone would like to give me a book advance to go determine how to do such a thing, let the record show I am more than willing to accept.
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Now playing: Jimmy Eat World - Firefight

on a river laden up with prayer and doubt and dreams

I'm not going to use a sojo quote this week as my "get myself in the CG mindset" inspiration. Instead I'd like to use my traditional song lyric inspirations because these few choice melodic expressions continue to stand out.

So save your prayers, for when you’re really gonna need them
Zero, Smashing Pumpkins

I traveled back to high school today in honor of the fact that Smashing Pumpkins will be at Voodoo Fest next week and I wanted to remember how much I love their songs. Now, Billy Corrigan is quite a God-pessimist, so it does not surprise me in the least that he includes this lyric. After all, this is the same song that notes, “God is empty, just like me.” Yet those of us that do believe in God often seem to follow this advice, as though God can only take so many prayers before he’s tapped out.

To go along with this quote, a lyric that always, no matter how many times I listen to the song, stands out with incredible clarity:

I finally feel strong enough to pray
Maybe Tonight, William Tell

Again…this seems to be the opposite of what is necessary, although in a way I understand the sentiment. William thanks God in the linar notes so I don’t think he’s trying to be flippant, rather just articulating something that happens to all of us. We want to be able to do it on our own. We want to come to God clean, whole, and strong. But we can’t get there—God comes to us.

And finally we have:

So self-absorbed you've seemed to ignore the prayers that have already come about
The Unwinding Cable Car, Anberlin

There’s so much in this short statement from Stephen Christian, who insists that his band is not a “Christian band,” but that his faith impacts every aspect of his life. First, how often do we forget to take the time to say thanks (whether it’s to God or to the people in our life)? We’re so involved in ourselves that we just leap from thought to thought, demanding more, not realizing when a desire that we have has been granted. Also, when we become so focused on ourselves and our needs, we forget that we have already had so many of our needs met. When all we think of is ourselves and how to make ourselves happy—when we’re self-absorbed—it’s easy to ignore that God has answered our prayers, because all we’re focused on is the new prayers that we want answered. And of course we want them answered in the way that we desire…

In short.
You can’t pray too much.
Praying when weak isn’t only acceptable, it’s encouraged. And necessary if you’re anything like me.
Take a moment to say thanks.
Don’t be so busy wanting that you forget what you’ve got.

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Now playing: Anberlin - There Is No Mathematics To Love And Loss
via FoxyTunes