Yes, it was cold. The wind was bitter and sliced through whatever you were wearing. And I saw people without jackets, with sleeves rolled up so that they could show off their tattoos. Dumber than rocks.
When I went into church there were a few puddles in the parking lot. When I came out the puddles had frozen. On the way to get my hair cut I saw a big tree down. I don't know when it came down, but it was a big tree. The wind stayed strong, whipped up by the hand of Mother Nature, and she wasn't just making frosting for the cake.
The other day as I was going to mass a women came riding up on a bicycle, went into the back door and a few moments later came right out with a bag the had been left for the food pantry. I wondered if I should have said something or told someone. I thought about it and decided that she indeed looked poor and probably needed whatever food stuffs that was in the bag. So I let it pass because that is what the church is all about,; prayer and action and assisting those in need. Usually we tend not to see the poor, but donate and think that we are doing "good." I think that is only a small part of what Christ was trying to teach us. We are such slow learners.
I was thinking about prayer. I wonder if we or I, really know how to pray. We know all the correct words and formulas, attend our churches and hopefully live good Christian lives...but do I really, really know how to pray?
I give it my best effort according to what I know, feel, and have been taught, but it may not be my very best. My mind is always full of thoughts and distractions, flitering in and out, and taking me away from my intent. To pray is to commune with God. To speak with God on a higher level with true love and devotion. I wish that I could make my mind and heart blank like a clean slate and fill myself with the Holy Spirit.
I know in the literal and intelligent sense that we are a portion, and yet a wholeness of God, and that He resides within, but I do wish that I understood more fully of what prayer is and how to pray in a more complete and deepness. I wonder if I will ever feel the completeness I search for; Maybe not in this life.
Oh, you probably think that I have fell of the deep end of the pool. I tend to do that. That's how we learn to swim in the ebbs and flows or our spiritual souls. We (I) am ever searching. We all are. Sink or swim or do the doggie paddle. I guess I do the doggie paddle and try to stay afloat.
The weather prognosticators were saying that we were going to have a mild winter. We are just getting into the winter season and they just may be proved wrong. It's any one's guess...including the weatherman.
The Apostles asked Jesus-Master-how they were to pray and he told them to pray thus:
OUR FATHER
WHO ART IN HEAVEN
HALLOWED
BY THY NAME
THYE KINGDOM COME
THY WILL BE DONE
ON EARTH
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
GIVE US THIS DAY
OUR DAILY BREAD
AND FORGIVE US
OUR TRESPASSES
AS WE FORGIVE
THOSE WHO TRESPASS
AGAINST US
AND LEAD US
NOT INTO TEMPTATION
BUT DELIVER US
FROM EVIL.
END
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