How Do I See? (Part 2)

One’s perspective impacts what one sees and experiences. This is not to say that a change of perspective means a change in what is true. It simply means what is true is impacting me differently. That happens in our journey of faith as well as life in general. In my last post I (Jim) noted three perspectives on the Christian faith (status, qualities, relationship) and mentioned things that influence which perspective is more ‘natural’ for us (religious background, life experiences, etc.). It seems that God uses everything about us to give us a glimpse of what we have in Christ.But I was intrigued recently after reading a pastor’s Facebook posting that went something like this—"As the authors that I read grow older they talk more about prayer." I think that reflects a deepening experience of the relational perspective. As we grow older we never (hopefully) take justification or sanctification for granted. But what feeds the soul most in the latter years of life is our communion with the Father through the Son by the Spirit. And that is why the authors are talking more about prayer.Prayer is all the ways we communicate and communion with God. Sometimes when we are young of years and faith we focus more on what we have to do than on who we have to become. That’s fine. Competence is a God-given need of the soul. But after one has demonstrated a relatively decent level of competence one needs deeper communion. With God and others.How might you cultivate your communion with God through contemplative prayer that listens more than speaks?