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Step-by-step prayer
There’s a saying in Spanish that goes, “Paso a pasito.” It means “step by step,” although the second word uses the diminutive form, which gives the saying a homey, sweet flavor and makes the concept seem comfortable rather than arduous. That’s exactly what I’m finding on my spiritual journey: I’m taking things one step at a time, and it’s getting easier day by day. As Mary Baker Eddy says, “The footsteps of thought, rising above material standpoints, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller; but the angels of His presence—the spiritual intuitions that tell us when ‘the night is far spent, the day is at hand’ —are our guardians in the gloom” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 174).
One morning, not too long ago, I had a conversation with a relative in which we talked about the idea of thoughts and actions having a sequence. When faced with a challenge, for example, we can start with the prayer that insists on God’s control of the situation, and then allow that prayer to guide us to take proper steps. My Christian Science teacher once recommended making a list of all the wonderful ideas that occur to you while you’re praying and studying, and then carrying them out later. For years, I’d been unable to do this, and had even found that my study of the Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson was often interrupted as I got up to do supposedly more interesting things. (It took me a while to recognize that those tasks are not nearly as exciting as the ideas contained in the Lesson!)
The morning after my conversation with this relative, I got up, determined to let God order my day. I started with breakfast, then sat down and read the Bible Lesson. There I found this well-known phrase: “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way” (Psalms 119:37). The word quicken means to stimulate, make alive, vitalize, open up, or stir. A person who is “quickened” is very action-oriented, and our language is full of idioms that describe this: look sharp, hit the road, step on it, get a move on, get cracking, spring to life.
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