Do you ever feel like someone is following you? Like they know something you don't know? And they've been dead for 800 years?
The Prayer of St. Francis ("Lord, make me an instrument of your peace...")has been stalking Jane and I for the last couple weeks. It's come up on at least 8 occasions in 10 days. At first it was funny. Then odd. Then creepy. Now we're (finally) wondering if maybe, just maybe, God might be trying to say something to us.
Jane says that she sometimes prays: "Don't be subtle with me; make it obvious." Apparently he took us up on the offer.
It reminds us of other significant moments in our lives. Sometimes God speaks very subtly. As we pray and reflect, we see the Spirit moving our hearts one way or another. Other times, subtlety is tossed out the window and we're beaten over the head with a message. My initial discernment about whether or not to spend a year with NET Canada was spurred on by being suddenly bombarded with a flurry of, "Hey Andy, have you ever thought about going on NET?" I had (and I'd thought "No thanks!"), but after a few more months of prayer I had to admit that it felt God was leading me in that direction.
So now I have to ask: Why is St. Francis (or at least a prayer named after him) stalking me? Honestly, I don't know.
And so we pray. We ask God to let us know why this is coming into our lives right now. We chat with others. We go over it and see what (if anything) stands out.
And we're pretty confident that if we don't figure it out, God will simply shout just a little louder... :)
