I just posted my book review on Souvenirs Of Solitude by Brennen Manning. Great book. Kicked my butt, and yet did so in a gentle way that didn’t cause me to feel guilty and convicted, but encouraged and challenged. I recommend that you read it. I don’t care who you are, this is a great book.

Toward the end of the book, Manning wrote something that has been haunting me for days, weeks even. Much of what Brennan Manning has written tumbles around in my brain for a time. Especially his book Ruthless Trust. That used to be my favorite book written by Brennan Manning. I’m not so sure it is anymore; Souvenirs Of Solitude comes pretty close, if not taking that prized position in my library of Manning’s writings.

Molly

But for some reason, this paragraph has lodged in my mind and simply will not let go. I keep returning to it in my thoughts, worrying at it and gnawing on it like our pug, Molly, continually gnaws and chews on her rawhide bones.

Here it is:

Perhaps the main reason that we are such poor practitioners of the art of being human, why we so often teeter on a tightrope between self-hatred and despair, is that we don’t pray. We pray so little, so rarely, and so poorly. For everything else we have adequate leisure time. Visits, get-togethers, movies, football games, concerts, an evening with friends, an invitation we can’t decline – and these are good because it is natural and wholesome that we come together in community. But when God lays claim on our time, we balk. Do we really believe that He delights to talk with His children? If God had a face, what kind of face would He make at you right now?

Money Fixes Everything, Right?

I think this is more true in our society than ever before. I feel like we have become a community of believers that has forgotten how to pray. As American Christians, we are so independent, or rather, self-dependent, that we no longer feel the need to rely on God, or even go to Him with our needs. After all, we can do it ourselves, pay for it ourselves, no matter what the cost, because we can do anything with enough money, right? Have we become so convinced that the wealth of our nation and society can fix anything that we no longer even remember that God might want to be involved in our lives a little more intimately?

And I have to confess that I am just as guilty as the stereotype I just described. My focus is easily adjusted from the Creator and Sustainer to what meager effort I contribute. And I puff up like a proud peacock, “Look what I did!”

This morning, I stumbled across this verse from the Gospel of John. (I’m sure it wasn’t a stumble. I’m convinced that God reinforces his teaching to me in various ways, when I’m observant enough to pay attention to them.) It’s from John 15:5:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

There it is. My self-sufficiency is a sham. It’s not real. Nothing I do is under my own power. Everything I do comes from my connection to the Vine.

And so I think I need to practice and become a little more adept at the art of being human. I (as do we all) need to pray more, and more, ever more.

Here’s a brief quote from E.M. Bounds, in his book The Possibilities of Prayer:

The utmost possibilities of prayer have rarely been realized. The promises of God are so great to those who truly pray, when he puts himself so fully into the hands of the praying ones, that it almost staggers our faith and causes us to hesitate with astonishment. His promise to answer, and to do, and to give “all things,” “anything,” “whatsoever,” and “all things whatsoever,” is so large, so great, so exceedingly broad, that we stand back in amazement and give ourselves to questioning and doubt. We “stagger at the promise through unbelief.” Really the answers of God to prayer have been pared down by us to our little faith, and have been brought down to the low level of our narrow notions about God’s ability, liberality, and resources. Let us ever keep in mind and never for one moment allow ourselves to doubt the statement that God means what he says in all of his promises…. His promises are for plain people, and he means to do for all who pray just what he says he will do.

I think I need to get better at the art of being human…

What do you think? Do you struggle with prayerlessness in your life? How do you combat that? What do you do to remind yourself to rely on God rather than your own efforts?

If you are interested in reading Souvenirs Of Solitude, by Brennan Manning, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

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