wannabepriest

Like many of my fellow Ridley students, I’ve been meditating deeply and panicking madly over a small passage from Luke’s gospel in the last few days. The Ridley Hall Lent Book has become something of a hit in recent years and we’ve all been asked to contribute a reflection on selected passages for the 2007 publication.

The deadline is looming with the publisher beating down our doors to get the content done. I guess we are all going to need to become familiar with coming up with quick (and yet profoundly deep) reflections at short notice so it’s good practice for what is to come…

I chose Luke 18.15-17 at random not realizing what it was about and then promptly spent days trying to think of something new to say about a passage very well known.

See what you think. All constructive criticism welcome!

I have a young daughter, a toddler, with whom I have recently started to pray. I used to pray for her quietly as she drank her evening bottle of milk before going to sleep. Limited as her understanding and vocabulary may be, now we pray together.

Each night, I ask her if she wants to pray. She always agrees and so I pray that the Lord will be with her, that He will bless her and help her to grow in her body, her mind, her emotions and her spirit. I say Amen and with her thumb or the bottle between her lips, she whispers ‘Amen’ from the corner of her mouth.

Each day without fail, she thinks for a moment and then looks up to me and says ‘more?’

Smiling, I say ‘OK’ and before I can suggest anything, she knows who is next – ‘Mummy?’, so we pray for Mummy together. Once again, she says ‘Amen’, pauses and again asks for ‘more?’ Daddy is next, then her brother, her grandparents and sometimes others that she has met that day.

She doesn’t yet have the words to pray herself, but she readily agrees with my prayers and always prompts me to pray a little ‘more’.

When I come to prayer and struggle to find words that express my heart to God, I forget that all I really need to do is look to my daughter and be like a ‘little child’. What could express our hearts better than to look up into the eyes of our great High Priest who ‘always lives to make intercession’ for us and ask Him simply for ‘more?’

You can get another sneak preview of the book to come over on Simon’s blog where he has posted his reflection on Luke 19.1-10.

Update: Tiffer’s been at it as well and now Harry has posted his too. Way it’s going no-one will have to buy the book!