New Beginnings

I am starting another semester of school today. It promises to be a hard one. I think I'm ready for 16 weeks of Christian Theology though.

A follow-up to my last post on depression. I'm much better now, and was in fact even before I went to bed that night. I was able to get working on my small group lesson for the next day (with the high schoolers) and getting involved in that helped take my mind off of other things. I had a good prayer session at the end of the evening and went to bed in a good state. It never lasts long (at least it hasn't yet), but it happens to us all sometimes.

I guess I never told anyone about one of my secret weapons. It's a Presbyterian Book of Common Worship that I have. I have NO IDEA where I ever got it from, or even when I got it. I've never been to a Presbyterian anything until recently (I go to a men's community Bible study at a Presbyterian church on Thursday mornings). But, one day about 2 years ago, my eye caught it lying on a shelf in my office and I picked it up for the first time ever and began to look through it. I found a series of prayers, divided up by morning prayers and evening prayers, and there's one for each day of the week (so 14 in all). I really like these prayers. They give me a place to start, and things to focus on, and it's a great way not to meander in my prayers too much. They also focus on praying for lots of different people (the government, the lost, the sick, the many others), and the Church on various continents, etc. It's a great reminder to pray for all these different folks. But it's also very eloquent. I love the way some of them are worded - they say just the right things.

I haven't always prayed these every morning and evening, but during the times that I have, I have felt much closer to God. It in a way helps me remember to spend a decent amount of time praying, and remembering what to pray about. We went on a mission trip last year and I had it with me, and I offered to lead morning and evening prayer time. It was a really powerful thing for us that week, and the prayers had huge applications for what we were doing, and even lined up with our daily activities sometimes. It was cool.

So, that was the last thing I did the other evening, was go through my evening prayer in my book of common worship, and it really helped me reconnect with God. My question to you is this - what little insignificant, overlooked, hardly noticed thing has been sitting right in front of you for a long time that you need to pick up and examine for once? It just might change your life.