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Mini-Meme: Next iTunes lyric with spiritual meaning

PatJune 20, 2008

It’s Friday! Wanna do another meme?

Pay attention to the lyrics on the song you’re now listening to, or start your player on shuffle. What’s the first lyric that grabs your attention due to its spiritual meaning? And why does that one catch your attention today of all days?

Here’s mine:

My every breath is a prayer for you

You know I’m waiting there for you

- Ben Harper, Needed You Tonight

Which reminds me a lot of this prayer by Thomas Merton which is one of my all-time favorites. As I continue to think about incarnation, about living and embodying Christ, and about being intentional in my prayer and my lifestyle, Ben’s words hit home.

Play along! Add comments with yours, or blog your own and link back here.

(Yes, I may be one of the only people on the planet that would find a deep connection between the spirituality expressed by Thomas Merton and Ben Harper. Or I may not.)

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Another Merton Quote (a repeat)

PatMay 8, 2008

My God, I pray better to You by breathing,

I pray better to You by walking than by talking

“Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings” (Thomas Merton), p. 57

I’ve blogged this before, I’m certain, but it bears repeating.

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy reading Thomas Merton?

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If You (Merton)

PatMay 7, 2008

If You allow people to praise me, I shall not worry. If You let them blame me, I shall worry even less. If You send me work, I shall embrace it with joy. It will be rest to me because it is Your will. If You send me rest, I will rest in You. Only save me from myself. Save me from my own, private, poisonous urge to change everything, to act without reason, to move for movement’s sake, to unsettle everything that You have ordained.

Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will burn in my heart and shine for Your glory. This is what I live for. Amen, amen.

from “Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings” (Thomas Merton), p.53

I keep this book in the bathroom when I need reading material :-). It acts frequently as a devotional aid for me, and it reminds much about how much I love Merton, and his way of following Christ. And I find that Merton’s words center and still me, relieving me of much that is unnecessary and damaging.

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Who I’d read if I had 2 years to devote to it

PatMarch 15, 2008

I was thinking today, as I sat down to do some book summary papers for my next class in the doctoral program, about all the books that are piling up that I want to read but are not on the list for my upcoming classes. There are a lot of onesy books that are building up - but also, there are authors that I really want to dive deep into.

I’d love to read the entire catalog of works by these authors:

Thomas Merton
N. T. Wright
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Elizabeth O’Connor (I’ve read all but, I think, 2 of her books, but need to re-read them all)
Kathleen Norris

Seems to me that I’m missing somebody. But it’s not coming to me right now. I used to want to read all of Eugene Peterson’s stuff, but I find it hard to finish his books these days.

Who would you like to read everything by?

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