Prayer for Syria

Today I went to a service dedicated to prayer for Syria. Specifically we prayed for the civil war to come to an end, and for the welfare and safety of the people affected by the war. It was truly incredible to pray in a group, to together acknowledge the awful pain in this world but also take time to express our faith in God's power to overcome that pain.

Prayer for the Environment

I started this blog to chronicle my attempt to pray for every endangered species. Quite honestly, it was a massive undertaking. I'm not sure I regret it, but I do think that it was foolish. Foolish in a godly way? I'm not sure. But the extinction of species is in many ways just the tip of the iceberg of environmental problems, and always caused by some other, larger issue. Is it even helpful to pray for endangered species, or just frustrating for me? I know that I've failed at it pretty spectacularly (I was planning to be done last July, and I'm only slightly past the half-way point).

But can't God use whatever I do that is searching for Him for His purposes? I would still love to finish my quest, even if much, much later than I wanted to. The internet is full of stories of people finishing amazing tasks in incredibly short periods of time... but is that the best way to do things? Hurried, stressed, and concentrating on deadlines?

I am committing to finishing my quest. God will use me--use us, if you would join me! Prayer is powerful.

Environment and Prayer Quote

“When it comes to climate change . . . what is often missing is quiet reflection and passionate prayer. As the world descends into fearful uncertainty, we need space to ask God for his perspective and intervention, to think about what our abuse of his creation says about us, and to plead for a new vision of God’s purposes for us in his world.”   

                         ~Dave Bookless

New and Old

I've been gradually getting in the habit of praying regularly again. It's difficult and rewarding at the same time; difficult, because bad habits are hard to break, but so rewarding, because I know that I'm doing the right thing and because I love getting closer to God again. Prayers that it continues to go well would be much appreciated, especially since I'm moving to a new city to start seminary in less than a week.

I've also started a new prayer practice. Over the summer I noticed that ideally enjoy praying while I'm doing things with my body: writing out my prayers, walking, (both of which I've been doing for a while), and making friendship bracelets. I decided to continue this practice (especially the friendship bracelets), but with something a bit more useful. So I've been learning to crochet! So far I'm still learning, making it hard to pray while I do it, but I'm getting better. Here's my first completed "project" that I worked on while praying:

I hope to make a bunch of them and see them together to make an afghan to donate.

I know that it would be hypocritical, to say the least, to knit with any old yarn when that yarn was probably produced with slave labor and environment-destroying chemicals. So, I'll probably complete this first project with yarn I have lying around the house (there's a lot of it), and afterwards I'll buy local, environmentally friendly yarn. I'm excited already!