{"id":946,"date":"2021-08-19T08:31:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T12:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=946"},"modified":"2021-08-19T08:31:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T12:31:03","slug":"help-thanks-wow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/19\/help-thanks-wow\/","title":{"rendered":"Help, Thanks, Wow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I have never learned to drive a standard transmission car.

Since futurists keep insisting that the age of autonomous (\u201cdriverless\u201d) vehicles is just around the corner, the window to address this gap in my life is rapidly closing.

My associations with standard transmissions are comically traumatic.  Shortly after my 16th<\/sup> birthday, my father insisted one Sunday afternoon that I join the rest of the human race in learning how to use a stick-shift and clutch.  I was reluctant.  \u201cMom\u2019s going to teach me,\u201d I said.  But Dad, who did not have the gift of extraordinary patience, made it clear that this was the time and this was the place.  \u201cGet in the car.\u201d  There\u2019s not much room for two people in the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle.  The tension was thick.

I started the car, depressed the clutch, shifted into reverse, and gently put my foot on the accelerator. 

Actually, I had done only three of those four things.  Instead of shifting into reverse, I had put the car into drive.  The Beetle lurched forward and hit the maple tree in our backyard. 

The words we exchanged at that moment should probably not be reported in a morning reflection.  That was the end of my one and only driving lesson with my father.  That event has also been my default excuse, for more than 50 years now, why I never sit behind the wheel of a standard transmission vehicle. 

Some time ago I was delighted to learn that the actor Pierce Brosnan, despite all those great car chase scenes in James Bond movies, barely knows how to use a stick-shift and clutch.  At last, 007 and I have something in common. 

Pierce and I \u2013 we\u2019re now on a first-name basis \u2013 are more than willing to let other people have all the gear-shifting fun.

What a disaster it would be, however, if any of us came to a similar conclusion concerning prayer.  It\u2019s true that many of us have earnestly tried to pray.  We\u2019ve learned the mechanics, but it doesn\u2019t seem to work. Everybody else seems to \u201cget it,\u201d but all we do is mash our spiritual gears. 

How can we turn the life we already have into a running conversation with God?

Try this:  Bring to mind something that has blessed you in the past few weeks \u2013 something large or small that went unaccountably well, beyond your expectations.  Now gently turn your mind toward God, and take a deep breath. 

As you exhale, either aloud or in some quiet interior place, simply say the words, \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/em>

Now bring something else to mind.  Think of a problem you have to solve or a challenge you are currently facing that appears to be impossible.  It feels like a cloud hanging over your life.  Once again turn your mind to God and take a deep breath. 

As you exhale, either aloud or in some quiet inner place, simply say, \u201cHelp me.\u201d<\/em>

Or how about something that\u2019s recently moved you to feel a sense of awe?  Maybe it\u2019s the stunning appearance of the summer night sky, or your first look into the face of a newborn child, or the sudden realization that the corn that was just an inch high last May now towers over your head.   

Catch a breath, let it go, and say, \u201cWow!\u201d<\/em>

You just prayed three times.  Not only that, you prayed three significant prayers. 

Maybe you\u2019re thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s not really praying.  That\u2019s just sighing.  It can\u2019t be that easy.\u201d 

But God has always intended that prayer be just that accessible.  As author Anne Lamott notes in her book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, <\/em>that trio of simple expressions can become attached to the everyday blessings and struggles of our lives. 

As we turn our minds to God as rhythmically as breathing in and breathing out, we can, with the Spirit\u2019s help, begin to turn the lives we already have into a running conversation with God. 

Which, when you think about it, is a wonderful strategy for shifting out of neutral.
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I have never learned to drive a standard transmission car. Since futurists keep insisting that the age of autonomous (\u201cdriverless\u201d) vehicles is just around the corner, the window to address this gap in my life is rapidly closing. My associations with standard transmissions are comically traumatic.  Shortly after my 16th birthday, my father insisted one Sunday afternoon that I join… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":948,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions\/948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}