Words when you have no words
I have nothing of my own to say today. So in that spirit, just let me share these words from my friend Barbara Crafton:
---
Sometimes prayer is not a set of brilliantly chosen original words. Sometimes it can't be anything more than the familiar drone of ancient words from someone else, someone long ago, words you learned yourself a long time ago, words that are part of your brain stem now, after all these years, because that is all you have. You're fresh out of brilliant words. So you use the old ones, and they wash over you like a kindly stream of sweet warm water.
Never think that you have to be brilliant in prayer. Don't worry if you can't find the words, or if the only words you do find may not be the right ones. There are no wrong words in prayer. Sometimes there's just a sound, and sometimes there is only silence. God enters anything you inhabit, even if all you have left is your own emptiness.
---
Sometimes prayer is not a set of brilliantly chosen original words. Sometimes it can't be anything more than the familiar drone of ancient words from someone else, someone long ago, words you learned yourself a long time ago, words that are part of your brain stem now, after all these years, because that is all you have. You're fresh out of brilliant words. So you use the old ones, and they wash over you like a kindly stream of sweet warm water.
Never think that you have to be brilliant in prayer. Don't worry if you can't find the words, or if the only words you do find may not be the right ones. There are no wrong words in prayer. Sometimes there's just a sound, and sometimes there is only silence. God enters anything you inhabit, even if all you have left is your own emptiness.