May Issue of Zion Chimes

Prayer Space: As I unpack boxes and sort through hangers, wadded-up newspaper and bubble wrap I find gratitude continually bubbling up in my heart. The people of Zion have enveloped me in a cloud of hospitality and gracious good will that is both heartfelt and ebullient. Thank you to all of you who are welcoming me so heartily to your home at Zion. It is so good to feel welcome after being so recently uprooted from my home in Augusta, GA. After packing boxes for over a month I finally got to the point where I had to pack up my prayer space for the move up north. It was only then that I began to feel anxious and without an anchor. I am used to having a prayer space in my home, where I know I can go to sit in quiet and hear the voice of God breaking through all my business and routine. I pray more regularly and effectively when I have a designated time and place to say my prayers. I fill this space with items that remind me of Christ and why I turn to him for guidance. I have a comfortable chair (an old rocker) with a cushion for my back and a blanket for my knees. I keep my favorite meditation and prayer books near at hand. In fact I have so many favorites that I need a small bookcase in my prayer spot. I have a candle, so that I can light my own "light of Christ". I have a Buddhist prayer bell (brought to my family from a cousin living in Nepal), and icons I "wrote" in a Russian iconography workshop. Light is important to me, so I sit near a window. This prayer space is where I let God knit me together and unravel the mistakes. Without it I feel a bit lost. I find myself looking around for where I might find it again. My new home in the rectory is beautifully furnished and lovingly cleaned and curtained. It is now ready for my prayer space, as soon as God and I figure out where it is going to be. Where is your place for prayer? Do you feel safe there? How do you let your family know that you need to go there? When will you create one? "For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly, my hope is in him." (Ps 62:6a)