Sunday, August 17, 2008

Be Doers of the WORD and not hearers only


Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.
He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. (James Chapter 1, verses 22-24)

I find it whimsical that I should be quoting St James. I never thought much about him, until my recent effort on the Camino de Santiago de Comostela.

Here was a person who practiced what he preached. Jesus said: Go and teach all nations, so James set out to teach in Spain. When he had done that, he went back home, and was martyred in the Holy Land.

But he had to be listening to Jesus in order to hear that clear command.
Prayer is more about listening, than about saying words.

And in my experience, God doesn't only speak when you are on your knees. Sometimes He talks through events and circumstances, sometimes through nature, and very often through other people who may be unaware that they are angels in disguise.

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More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Morte D'Arthur)