Gathering moss from prayer

‘If you walk with Christ in the sunshine, He will walk with you in the shadows’

These words graced my bedroom wall in 1964.

I do not remember it being there. I was reminded when I read a really old sermon.

Back then, many people purchased plaques, blue background and gold lettering, with meaningful and inspiring messages to encourage themselves and others as they travelled along the bumpy road of life.

Today, twitter, facebook, email, etc can scan the world in seconds, faster than having to walk into an unknown room with the expectation that a message may be written there for you.

Anyway, these words inspired me back then to the extent that I used the phrase to introduce a homily I delivered in October 1964.

I went on to speak about the frequency and effectiveness of constant prayer.

When His followers asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he did not say ‘read a book’ or ‘attend a workshop’; He gave them a concrete example ... we call it THE LORD’ PRAYER.

If we used His prayer as our pattern for daily meditations, we would basically follow 5 steps:
Step 1 – PRAISE – say 1 good thing about God;
Step 2 – THANKSGIVING – say 1 thing for which you are thankful;
Step 3 – FORGIVENESS – say you are sorry for 1 thing in your life;
Step 4 – PRAY FOR OTHERS – say 1 thing for some one else;
Step 5 – PRAY FOR YOURSELVES – say 1 thing you need.

Take this pattern of prayer out for a test drive today, and see if it’s for you.

A GENTLE REMINDER – the answer to our prayers may be yes, no, maybe, wait a while, keep trying, you are not ready, etc.

Moss prayers are the ones that stick with you.

Moss From A Rolling Stone - Why The Push?

Welcome to my new blog.

I have decided to ‘slip the surly bonds of earth’ (High Flight by John Gillespie Magee ) and cascade into the limitless, unknown realm of ‘blogosphere’.

Searching for a name for my blog occupied hours of research and an equal amount of time rolling the title around my mind to test it out.

It should, I concluded, tell about me … where I came from … where I am … and where I may be going.

Eventually I baptized my blog – MOSS FROM A ROLLING STONE.

It’s a play on the well known maxim – ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’.

I chose it because I disagree with its message. I believe a rolling stone or other objects, inanimate or living, does gather moss and other flotsam and jetsam as it gently meanders or ferociously tumbles through its progressing experience.

ME – this ‘rolling stone’ has churned through nearly seven decades of life on this earth, and I have collected ‘moss’ of many varieties.

So, if you wish, in the days ahead I would like to share some ‘moss’ with you. To do so, come back to this page frequently.

It’s ironic, in our vastly advanced era of technology, that I should select my blog’s name from a phrase coined 2100 years ago, by Publius Syrus, whose artistic talents enabled him to transform words into maxims to be remembered and passed along to future generations.

Maybe the past reflects the mirrored images of the present and future.

Thanks for reading my first blog; please return soon for more moss from a still rolling stone.