Placing reminders in our life, to come to God in prayer.

My pastor from several churches ago, told a story of what he did to remind himself to pray. Everyday, as he drove to Church, to work, he stopped at a stop sign, before getting to work. (and it was probably early in his journey.)

He chose to use that particular stop sign as a Visual reminder to pray, during the journey to Work. (Now you might think that all Pastors *DO* is pray, but that is far from the truth, and you’d be amazed how little time many Pastors do pray each week…)

But the point here, is to take the idea of placing something in your life, to be a reminder of prayer for you.

I chose to include this image of a brick cross embedded in a wall, as a very obvious symbological visual cue, but anything can work, really…

Some people are afraid of prayer, in one way or another. But Prayer is really just a part of ‘being’ in relationship, instead of another ‘thing to do…’

Our lives are very often, and our church life is so very often centered around what we ‘DO’. But this is a ‘being’ thing… relationship is about being together, not just doing together… And it is *out* of our being in relationship, filling up our cup of communion with God, that our service and life of doing can be fed from. Our relationship with God needs to be a balance between the doing and the being, and the balance of the discipline of studying the bible, and the romance of having a relationship with God. We short shrift the people that we serve, our God, and ourselves, if we try to serve people and God out of the leakage out of the bottom of our cup, instead of from out of the overflow of the top of our communion with God cup.

Prayer isn’t formulaic, prayer is relational and conversational.

As Artists and Creative personalities, our mental makeup is much more weighted towards the romantic side of this balance between Discipline and Romance. And also, our psychological makeup is much more contemplative. This Contemplative way of being suits us well to be in relationship with God, in ways that other people who are more rationally and logically oriented may not be able to enjoy. This makes Artists especially suited to be able to have great relationships with our Creator God, and we should take all advantage possible in this vein to have special times and conversations with God.

And then, this gift of relationship with God can be shared in ways to our brothers and sisters who may be less able to enjoy this with God… *and* this relationship can be helpful in our art making, giving us insight into God’s heart, direction, and methods, helping our Art to shape our culture.

Relationship is really something to strive for, especially when combined with good efforts, to know the mind of God through studying His Word.

Let me know if you need any help in this area…

Grace and Peace to you…

Paul