quotes from Chapter 34 Developing a Lifestyle of Prayer by Gerald Schmidt
"All of us pray, either consciously or unconsciously.... It is the honest speech of the soul, that part of us created in the Divine image."
"sometimes the honesty comes because we are confident that nobody can overhear us, not the God in whom we have such shaky faith or no faith at all, not anybody we know, not even ourselves.... sometimes the honesty comes because we do know who it is that is listening, because we feel sure that there is a listener somewhere in us or outside us...."
"Developing a lifestyle of prayer is developing a life that seeks to come out of hiding.... Somtimes we go back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thinking if we eat a little more our vision might clear. It never works! Guilt-ridden, we again hear God's question, 'Where are you?' as a judgment rather than an invitation from a God who is closer to us than we are to ourselves - a God whose kingdom is within us!"
"Developing a lifestyle of prayer includes noticing the gap between our intention and experience, then realizing that even our intention to be close to God is God, and then seeking ways to honor that intention."
"...courage is fear that has said its prayers."
"Alan Jones says that in life and ministry we 'either manipulate or we contemplate.'"
