whose feet are you sitting at, paying attention to the madman, and the remedy for all things

Well, if you don't pray every morning before the chaos begins, perhaps this might get you rethinking hitting that snooze button or choosing time with the TV, over time with God.

Only moments awake on this rainy Monday, I read this:

Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. (Rom 12:12)

And I mean, really...is there anything else we need to know today? Or tomorrow? Or ever?

Because my first guess, is that there is something in your life right now that you are holding on to hope for, with all of your might.

But it is hard.

And my second guess, is that you are afflicted by something - big or small - but none-the-less, that is weighing down that hope of yours, and you are being called to endure.

But it is hard.

And my third guess, is that you are wondering if God even hears your prayers and are feeling like maybe they are a waste of time but you don't want to lose that hope and endurance and so you are being called to persevere.

But that?

That is hard.

Today is the Feast Day of Teresa of Jesus, Saint Teresa of Avila. I only know this because I got up to do my prayers. Another good reason to start your day with prayer...because guess what, buttercup? I can't rejoice in hope, endure in affliction and persevere in prayer unless someone shows me how. Enter in ...the Saints. More specifically, Saint Teresa of Avila. Doctor of the Church, and a rockstar in my mind.

Saint Teresa, I read, "worked as hard as Martha at the many tasks ...but she drew her energy from the hours she spent, with Mary, sitting at the Lord's feet and listening to him speak."

It makes you think...where do I draw my energy from? Whose feet am I sitting at?

And if you say by eating my fruits and vegetables and by being a kind person I am here to say that while that is really good and certainly necessary... it is not enough.

How do you fill and energize your soul?

Beyond the yoga mat and positive affirmations...also good and certainly necessary...but again, not enough.

Because Saint Teresa says, "The imagination and memory carry on such war that the soul is left powerless." And, "the imagination and memory often torment me."

This is impossible for me to read without recognizing the power I have given to the past; The power I have wrapped in a box with a bow and handed over to my imagination. The disturbance that plays out when one allows the mind to always drag you by the neck backwards into the center of trauma, or pull you forward by your feet into the worst case scenario. Disturbance is Saint Teresa's word, and disturbing, it all is.

And so all those things...the hope and the endurance and the perseverance...how much of my own imagination and disturbing memories get in the way of my ability to just sit and listen to God? And not just sit and listen but sit...WAIT...and listen. I am not good at the waiting. God's time line and surrendering to it, I have discovered through prayer, is the enemy's foothold with me.

"The only remedy I have found, after having tired myself out for many years, is the one I mentioned in speaking of the prayer of the quiet: to pay no more attention to the memory than one would to a madman." - Saint Teresa of Avila

There is so much to discover about yourself and about God in the prayer of the quiet. And if I could curl back up on the couch and sit at his feet for this entire day I would...but Saint Teresa worked at many tasks and had her own to-do list to do, just like you and me..."working or praying, she found her delight in Christ's company."

Can we say the same?

And all this to ponder, all this goodness to consider...from morning prayer. How good is God when we seek Him out first? When we set that alarm and get out of bed and sit with him over coffee, cat on the lap, waiting to hear what He has to say in the quiet so that we can rejoice in hope, endure in affliction and persevere in prayer? What other God does that?