Week one~Prayer

Hey everyone! let me just say that reading the posts so far was really enjoyable, it was a really interesting way to hear what all of you are thinking and I got super excited when there was something that I thought as well.
Considering this is the first post of many, it might be super choppy and rough around the edges, my apologies!!!

First let me start by saying that I'm a color-coding kind of person, and as I went through this devotional I color coded parts that stood out to me; pink for what I found related to me really well, orange for something i found really interesting, and green for something i had more questions about. So what I think I'm going to do is just go through marking and talk about why I marked it that way:)

So on page 3 I bracketed the whole 2nd paragraph orange. I have heard a number of metaphors relating to prayer but never this one, and its safe to say this is the best one so far. I really like the concept of the lute player really loosing himself in the music, and how so many parts of his being are working to loose him. I dont know if that makes sense, but it kind of connects with later on in the devotional where Steph Fry was quoted. The concept of praying to explore the intimidating God, to loose what you're comfortable with and step out of your "safe zone" to find something beautiful. Kind of like how the lute player lost himself in the process of creating beautiful music. This all also relates to serving as a Barny; we have to step out of our comfort zones, loose ourselves, to find and create something so much more beautiful, a Christ driven life! I hope that makes sense, because that totally made sense in my head

There were alot of things that i underlined in pink in this devotional. One of which was the sentence "As a spiritual exercize I sometimes imagine prayer as inhaling and exhaling and exhaling and inhaling. The repetition of the words inhaling and exhaling remind me of the ongoing eternal presence of God." I love yoga. And I looove meditating (and can i just say im super excited to read next weeks section!!). One thing I learned, and i believe i mentioned this to all the shasta barnys in the introduction emails, everything is better with God, especially meditation. When i was introduced to meditating i was so happy, i definitely put myself under alot of stress by keeping my work and school schedule busy busy. So when i tried meditating, i was really pleased to find that its extremely effective in relaxing me (also why i do yoga), and so meditation and yoga became really important parts of my life, so i began trying to incorporate God into them. One day while meditating i recited psalm 23 over and over. MY WORD i had never experienced such relaxation and peace before! God makes everything soo much better! The sentence that i underlined was so relatable to me and it gave me a new understanding of prayer, and to use a visual of repetitive inhaling and exhaling was such an effective way to give me that new view on prayer.

luckily for me there was really nothing i underlined in green, its amazing how much i understood. I really like how these are written!

As for scriptural end notes, i really like #2 "The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, i possess God in as great tranquility as if i were on my knees." I find that this one relates to me alot because of how i try to incorporate God in everything i do and i like the "I possess God in as great tranquility" because it reminds me of my meditating and how there is no peace like God-induced peace

Final note; Maybe a new "I am" statement? "I am the kingdom of God" (scriptural end note 13; Luke 17:20-12)

Ok thats it from me for this week!! :)