“Prayer takes a firm and steadfast hold when a small fire begins to burn in the heart. Try not to quench this fire, and it will become established in such a way that the prayer life repeats itself: and then you will have within you a small murmuring stream.” Fr. Henry Nouwen
St. Paul often told his listeners to “pray without ceasing.” I am sure you have heard that. Have you ever wondered how that is possible? Here is a simple way of lighting that fire within us never to be quenched in life. It’s pretty simple.
Last week I mentioned how to let your thoughts and emotions, your experiences, and your hopes move into your heart. As they immerse them in your heart, imagine those experiences as the little pebbles under the stream hitting against each other, smoothening the edges and making it shiny and beautiful. Imagine them to be the little sand in the shell, that will become the shiny pearl one day.
When these become the fire that burns selfishness, gives us a better understanding of people’s pains and sufferings, opens our hearts to become stronger, clearer, forgiving, and loving, then prayer will automatically repeat itself. It becomes an automatic process in which you have to do nothing but wait out for these to become the pearl, the gem, and the precious stones they are. Because in every pain is the sand that is waiting to become the pearl you are proud to wear. Maybe it is not the pearl you wear that makes the difference, the pearl that you are.
