Trophies

First the ribbons, then the medals and then the trophies all lined up on the shelf; our greatest accomplishments; highlighting our most magical moments.  Years of dedication, hours of practice, blood, sweat and tears all for the apex of rewards; shinny metal. What if we put one eighth of the effort into our relationship with God as we do our sports teams, our musicals, our instruments?  Is it  even imaginable how strong, how rooted, how self assured we would be in our daily lives? It is even imaginable to not doubt His love; not to doubt our abilities, not doubt our worthiness?  As unbelievable as it may sound, it’s not only possible it is actual. The more time we spend with the Father, the more time we stop to listen, stop to acclimate to His words into our daily lives, the deeper our relationship with Him becomes allowing us to visualize our worthiness, visualize our purpose. The actions we take in an effort to dominate our field are the necessary steps we need to take in order to deepen our relationship, our love with the Father.  Work may be hectic but we still manage time to play, why not manage time to pray?  Silent time, in the midst of a traffic jam, in line at the grocery store, pray can be anywhere, if can contain words yet it need not. Pray is our bridge to an everlasting love, if we are so headstrong in trophies, why do we not focus on the most magnificent trophy of all...everlasting life?  Tangibility need not equate with achievement for our greatest achievements are those which connect us with the Father, with His love. It is our acceptance of the Father’s love which makes our worthiness understood and holiness attainable but this comes with a commitment (not a price) but a commitment to delve into the reality of  prayer, the reality of our connectedness to the Father, delve into be present in our daily prayer with the Father. Let us first begin with scheduling time to pray, we schedule time for workouts, schedule time for practice, schedule time for drinks, let’s begin scheduling time for prayer.  Prayer, a time for us to better get acquainted with the Father, to feel, see and hear His presence in our daily lives. Putting forth our best effort to slow down, to listen, to hear His wordless words, this is the onset of prayer.  Remembering there is no perfect place for prayer for prayer can happen at any moment, for our prayer is a closeness with the Father; a closeness sought via our presence, our awareness of our now.  Accessing the heart and soul are vital to prayer for the mind think it gibberish while the heart knows the truth and the soul echoes His voice. Yearning to know becomes the push we need to commit to the Father for in our actualization of prayer we become more intimate leading us to the path of realization which includes the knowledge we already posses, knowledge which far exceeds the desires of the opinionated mind sieged by the ego. Paying close attention to our reality ignites our understanding and influences our commitment to prayer. Putting forth our best effort, remembering there is no perfect place, accessing our closeness, yearning to know, these are our baby steps to prayer. If we but slightly change our schedules to include prayer, then that which we deem most important will evolve as well. The moment we stop coveting the shinny metal is the moment we can transition into truth, into prayer, into our destined intimate relationship with the Father with our “prize” being eternal love. We are not winners because we have a wall full of trophies, especially now everyone receives a participation trophy, we are winning when we accept our worth by accepting the Father’s unconditional love, offered to us daily, yet understood via prayer. If it is a prize we need, then why not shoot for the ultimate prize...the Father and His love for all of time.