Grandpa's Garden: Moved To Pray

It is summer in this region, and the natural world calls us to recreation out of doors. Years ago, I tried running for exercise. When I began, I could barely jog around the block. Over time, I slowly added distance and found solitude and consolation amid my limitations and aspirations. I ran several 5k races to see if I could complete the course. I felt solidarity with other runners, most of whom ran faster than me. The only “running” I do now is hurrying at crosswalks. I enjoy walking.

When our children and grandchildren were in high school, they ran three seasons: cross-country in the fall, winter, and spring track. I think they found the community of their team a good space where they encouraged each other to try their best, consoled each other when enduring setbacks, and celebrated when they’d won. I can recall picking them up after a meet or practice. They would get into the car exhausted and sore, sometimes happy with their time, sometimes not. Sometimes, they’d want to chat; sometimes, it was quiet.

At one point in his letter to the church in Corinth, Saint Paul used the metaphor of stadium runners, only one of whom wins. Applying it to living faith, Paul encouraged, “…Run so as to win.” (1 Corinthians 9:24)

“Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.” (1 Corinthians 9:25)

Run Or Walk, Hike Or Bike

I think with any kind of movement, whether rolling, strolling, walking, or running, we become aware of a place within us that celebrates our humanity, where the physical and spiritual are inseparable. We attend to our sensory awareness of what’s happening within and around us.

As With Prayer

Prayer invites us to an awareness and opens us to how God’s Creative Spirit is moving us from within. What thoughts, feelings, inclinations, and memories come to mind? How does our prayer draw us closer to the Lord and one another? Regardless of what form our prayer takes, the Spirit finds us since we are never without Him. The Spirit of God runs our prayer. We pray in the Spirit.

“I will run the way of your commandments, for you will broaden my heart.” (Psalm 119:32)

Let us pray in our families for the grace to be open to the many ways the Spirit of God moves us to pray.