Lute Player

"The lute has turned into music; and the man who strums upon it is taken out of himself, for the music is soft and entrancing."

Wow, there is an incredible amount of beauty in that description. Reminds me of Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I wish that my prayers would more often look like that, more like searching for and looking upon Him, the one who draws me close and gives me life. Just being in His presence, resting, learning. Not that there is anything wrong with praying that God would give me strength to complete X,Y, and Z, or that He would bless this or that. In fact I am confident that He hears me and wants me to bring those requests to him. It's just that pursuing "things" shouldnt come at the expense of pursuing God.

Also, loved the Brother Lawrence quote on experiencing Him in “the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things”. Kind of shows that God reveals himself in everyday tasks. While pulling skiers maybe? Or cooking with the kid that no one signed up to cook with?

Sincere, venerable prayer bears fruit, because you are connected to the tree of life. When the tree is taken away, life is taken away. How deeply accurate is that out on the water? Getting too tasky (tasky? Task oriented?) rather than seeking God and his glory leads to getting really really tired. At least it does for me. Prayer is soooooo good, so important. In times of exhaustion, failure, frustration, or if the stock market crashes (sorry im in history class right now--) I will still have the only thing that really matters: my father in heaven. And he is better than life.

May your tenderness meet me in prayer,
So I can see what your heart sees,
What your heart feels for.