Feb 19 - Commit Your Way to the Lord

Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, *
and he will bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:5

The prophet says: "Seven times a day have I praised you"
Benedict's Rule 16:1 (Chittister, Pg. 119)

The point is clear: there is to be no time, no thing, that absorbs so much that we lose contact with the God of life ... More, whatever other people worship, we are to keep our minds and hearts on God.
Chittister, Pg. 121

Seven times a day? Put my trust in God? Never lose contact with God? But I have my life to live! But, if, as in the verse from Psalms, I put my trust in God, God will bring it to pass...

It seems I am not alone here. I am not alone in needing structure and regular reminders that while it is my life I am living, I am God's. Sister Joan reminds us that Saint Benedict's prescription is "brief, simple, scriptural prayers at regular intervals, easy enough to be recited and prayed even in the workplace". I pray twice a day, isn't that enough? Do I really need to add five, or is it six more times of prayer a day? I don't have an answer. The closest I have to an answer is "commit your way to the Lord...he will bring it to pass"

A Note To Readers:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, OSB, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading this book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule are from the translation in this same book.

Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

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