Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I spend much of my day puttering and keeping house, gardening in season, outdoors with my animals, walking in nature with my dog. I keep my prayer at that time to a quiet whisper, praising HIS creation, giving thanks, thanking HIM for everything, asking for him to stay with me and to give me light and clarity. If I find myself ruminating in my mind about this or that, I have learned the discipline to yank myself back to be aware of HIS presence. I do that with a centering prayer, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on me, a sinner", like a chant. It pulls me back to being completely centered and feeling alive in the moment. That is one kind of prayer, I suppose it is like contemplative prayer. Then there are the morning readings of Scripture, something from the Old, a psalm or two, Something from the Epistles, and something from the Gospel, closing with the Our Father, with the emphasis on "Thy Will Be Done", and meaning it. I pray before I eat, sometimes silently, or muttering If I am in despair about something, personal or worldly, as in the condition of the world, someone else's suffering and pain, again I finish with "thy will be done". If there is a prayer request, I will think about the person asking it, and ask of God in my intention, for God to guide and protect of heal that person. I try not to pray for every whim that comes my way, as in pain, I have it all day long, there is a reason for it, physically. So I ask God to give me strength to endure it, and remember his pain on the Cross, and the pain of the rest of the world, so mine does shrink in comparison. My prayer life is more important than my supplement regimen, my food, my drink. I have to remember if I become lax in this practice, the devil is doing push ups and gaining strength. When I pray fervently, it is often due to my shortcomings and remembering my unGodly ways of my youth, and then I confess to HIM and plead for forgiveness, and try to think of a way to amend . If I find myself wasting food for instance, I will make sure to donate to the food pantry that week. If I have a flash of anger and speak harshly, I apologize. There are many kinds of prayer in my personal practice of my Christianity. I go to church occasionally, and the one I go to is known as the "singing church" in town, and on a summers day with the doors open you can hear us up and down the street, I raise my voice and sing the hymns with all my heart and really get swept up in the words of worship of the Hymn, it is wonderful! I am so grateful that my life is just how it is, somewhat secluded and very close to nature, it gives me the freedom to speak out loud to HIM.. "what a friend we have in Jesus" is my reality, HE is my companion, HE is my significant other. Even though I understand that HE already knows what I have done, what I am doing, and what I will do (or the choices I will face), it wards off any kind of loneliness or shame I may feel for my past, or any kind of pain I may have in my present. I wish I had known this when I was younger, my life would have known peace and contentment earlier. But we come to him as ourselves, not what we want to be, but as we are HE loves me no more than the next person, and I try to Love HIM as HE loves me, and of course I fall short daily.