Prayer.

 "I believe that profit often meets and joins the person who prays as he ought or who makes every effort to do so as far as he is able. First, the person who composes his mind for prayer is inevitably profited in some way. Through his very disposition for prayer he adorns himself so as to present himself to God and to speak to Him in person as to someone who looks upon him and is present."
 ~Origen of Alexandria

I have no idea who he is or why he has any credibility, but I like what he has to say. I'm not one to do lots of research, so according to the very little research that I did, he's some theologian from the 200s who castrated himself. Sounds hard core (or completely crazy) to me.
Again, either way I like his words. I like that he addresses profiting from prayer. If we prepare our minds for talking to the God of the universe it will without a doubt benefit us. I also think he is trying to communicate that by the simple act of praying we are humbling ourselves before the Lord and conversationally approaching him. Those are the things that popped out to me.

 "...it seems to me that the person who is about to come to prayer should withdraw for a little and prepare himself, and so become more attentive and active for the whole of his prayer. He should cast away all temptation and troubling thoughts and remind himself so far as he is able of the Majesty whom he approaches, and that it is impious to approach Him carelessly, sluggishly, and disdainfully; and he should put away all extraneous things. This is how he should come to prayer: stretching out his soul, as it were, instead of his hand; straining his mind toward God, instead of his eyes; raising his governing reason from the ground and standing it before the Lord of all, instead of standing."

I love that. I felt like I could have italicized or bolden? boldize? made bold? almost every single word. I am very prone to pray out of obligation and definitely with little thought. I have thought a lot about being intentional with prayer since reading this. There is so much meat in this that I can't even begin to break down. I would rather just share it and let each person pull out what it means to them and explore how it encourages them. Although, I will say that I'm making sure I don't take from this that I shouldn't approach the Lord unless I can completely focus for at least an hour or more. I think there is great importance in being prayerful throughout the day, every day (1 Timothy 2:8). I think he is trying to illustrate the equal importance of finding the time and energy to pray in a more intentional and thoughtful way.

"It seems to me that there are four topics that need to be sketched out and that I have found them scattered in the Scriptures. Each person should organize his prayer according to these topics. This is what they are:
1. In the beginning and the preface of the prayer, something having the force of praise should be said of God through Christ, who is praised with Him, and by the Holy Spirit, who is hymned with Him.
2. After this, each person should place general thanksgivings, bringing forward for thanksgiving the benefits given many people and those he has received from God.
3. After thanksgiving, it seems to me that he ought to blame himself bitterly before God for his own sins and then asks first, for healing that he may be delivered from the habit that brings him to sin and, second, for forgiveness of the sins that have been committed.
4. After confession, the fourth topic that seems to me must be asses is the request for great and heavenly things, both private and general, and concerning this household and his dearest. And, finally, the prayer should be concluded with a doxolgy of God through Christ in the Holy Spirit..."

I love structure and direction. I love the book of James because it straight up tells me what to do and what not to do. I love this suggestion for how to approach prayer. I don't see it as legalism but rather a genuine attempt to help guide in this abstract thing called praying.

I want to approach prayer thoughtfully, intentionally, and frequently.

(Thank you Imago Dei youth group for the wonderful discussion about prayer in relation to Origen's words that inspired this post.)

Emmanuel.

It's fun to steal someone else's words... Makes my job a lot easier. Austin has told me a few times how much he loves the word "Emmanuel." He loves all that it encompasses. So I asked him to write out all that it means to him for me (I definitely had ulterior motives, but either way I was excited to hear what it meant to him). This is his beautiful response. It was definitely encouraging to me. Not to mention I kinda like the loving words he says about me...


"One of the best gifts I have ever been given is wrapped around my wrist right now...

Emmanuel: God with us. Emmanuel or Immanuel is only written a few times in scripture, but I love how it is used. Emmanuel is explained by Matthew as meaning, "God with us," but it is his description for Christ so it is also one way I see the development of the trinity actually written in scripture. Since there is only reference of the trinity in the bible, I think it is pretty cool that Matthew would use Hebrew terminology to speak about the coming of Christ. "God with us" transcends time and space. If we are to consider the tenses of "God with us" we can see that time is transcended as the meaning could read "God was with us," "God is with us," and "God will be with us." When I think about God being with us in the past I think of other scripture that reminds us of the Lord's consideration of us before the foundations of the earth; He knew us before we were a thought or a possibility, He knew us before our countless generations that came before us...God was with us. "God is with us," communicates to me the immediacy of who God is and his activity; God was not only once and is gone, (Niche- existentialist philosopher who claimed God was dead)  he currently is present and active. When we can understand that the Lord is present with us, I honestly believe we can find peace at a time we could not imagine. When we find peace in the midst of our shattered broken hearts, minds, bodies and souls I believe the connectivity and thanksgiving should be directed at God as well as those whom he puts in our life to find peace. The relationships the Lord puts in our lives exist to help bring a peace that is ever striving to simply be with God. As the moments match up with the will of the Lord, we experience the Lord as He IS with us. "God will be with us" walks us onto a path of energy for the future. Sometimes I want to hold on to what's happening now, or an experience but I must keep in mind the Lord is calling me to move forward. I am called to pursue difficult goals and persevere through failure as well as success. I cannot dwell on either one success or one failure but must consider what is to come so that I can work hard in preparation of the unknown struggles, fears, hurt etc. to come. I see the Lord transcending time, and to wear His name on my wrist is a privilege and a privilege that I neither deserve nor can completely fathom.

Emmanuel communicates more to me than just God "being" with us, but also that we are with him. Your tattoo reminds me of this, "Beloved Child." Children are not claimed if they are not wanted and desired. The Lord claims us through calling us his children, through his adoption of us as lost and homeless orphans. A father is quick to hold his child in a storm or after a bad dream, you and I hug to pour out affection. When our parents or our friends embrace us, we experience God. Emmanuel is displayed throughout our daily life and life together. Emmanuel brings peace because, as Job experienced, it sometimes feels as though all we have is Emmanuel and sometimes it feels as if we have no one, not even God but we can rest in the peace and grace that is given to us no matter the loss. Emmanuel."

 I haven't thought much about the word "Emmanuel" before. I just feel like I see it around Christmas time. I definitely will start thinking differently about it now.

Thank you Austin for being willing to share your words AND your wrist. Also, props to destinyray jewelry for the bracelet. Order yours today! Pick a word that means a lot to you... destinyray.com (Lenny's doesn't know what they're missing. Marketing skills out the wazoo.)

Austin has hairy arms.