As you may know, I have a quiet time every morning before I start on my day. I make myself a cup of tea, light a candle and spend some time in quiet prayer. I often have a book to help me in my reflection. I gain some valuable insight from whatever I am reading and am often inspired to write in my spiritual journal or do some prayer doodling, or some such activity. At the moment, I am reading a small book called “How to Worry Less about Money.” This may seem like a very odd choice for a spiritual reflection book. However, one of the traditional hymns we sing on a Sunday contains the lines ‘Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.’ I have always worried about money, even when I have had no need to. I realised that I needed to change my attitude to money, so that I can be less anxious about my finances and enjoy what I have. Reading this book and doing the exercises it suggests in my quiet time means that I am bringing all of this intentionally before God.
There can sometimes be a perception that we can only pray to God about ‘holy’ or ‘worthy’ things. We forget that God is with us all the time, in all the places and circumstances of our lives. Psalm 139 reminds us that God made us and knows us, through and through. There is no point in having a ‘Sunday face’ for God. God knows what we are like the rest of the week! I am looking at my attitude to money as part of bringing my whole life to God. The book talks about using what money we have to create a life that helps us to flourish. It is not about having lots of money, rather it is about recognising the values that we hold to be important and what helps us to live a ‘good life’, then deciding how to spend our money accordingly. In a spiritual context, this reminds me that Jesus came to offer me ‘life to the full’ (John 10:10) – not material wealth, but a life that is rewarding and fulfilling. If I am not using my money wisely, or am not spending it on activities that help me to flourish, it is hard for me to live in the richness of all that Jesus promised. This means that I have to make choices about what I spend money on, in order to be able to do what ‘feeds my soul’ and therefore perhaps spend less or stop spending in other areas.
Perhaps there is an area of your life which you find hard to ‘take to the Lord in prayer.’ If so, a good first question to ask yourself is, ‘Why? – why don’t I pray about this?’ That might throw up some interesting insight as a starting point. Remember that God already knows everything before you say it, so bringing it before God might just be a way of finally acknowledging something to yourself. That can be a great way of letting God into our hearts and lives.
God bless,
Cecilia
There can sometimes be a perception that we can only pray to God about ‘holy’ or ‘worthy’ things. We forget that God is with us all the time, in all the places and circumstances of our lives. Psalm 139 reminds us that God made us and knows us, through and through. There is no point in having a ‘Sunday face’ for God. God knows what we are like the rest of the week! I am looking at my attitude to money as part of bringing my whole life to God. The book talks about using what money we have to create a life that helps us to flourish. It is not about having lots of money, rather it is about recognising the values that we hold to be important and what helps us to live a ‘good life’, then deciding how to spend our money accordingly. In a spiritual context, this reminds me that Jesus came to offer me ‘life to the full’ (John 10:10) – not material wealth, but a life that is rewarding and fulfilling. If I am not using my money wisely, or am not spending it on activities that help me to flourish, it is hard for me to live in the richness of all that Jesus promised. This means that I have to make choices about what I spend money on, in order to be able to do what ‘feeds my soul’ and therefore perhaps spend less or stop spending in other areas.
Perhaps there is an area of your life which you find hard to ‘take to the Lord in prayer.’ If so, a good first question to ask yourself is, ‘Why? – why don’t I pray about this?’ That might throw up some interesting insight as a starting point. Remember that God already knows everything before you say it, so bringing it before God might just be a way of finally acknowledging something to yourself. That can be a great way of letting God into our hearts and lives.
God bless,
Cecilia
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