Writer's Block

            This week, there were several times where I sat at my computer, preparing to write this blog.

            I watched the cursor blink, and no words formed.

            I did the typical, tried-and-true tips for getting past writer's block. I removed distractions, I read, I walked, I played with the dogs, I wrote nonsense just for the sake of getting something on the page.

            Still: no blog. Blinking cursor, blank screen.

            I reflected how prayer can be like this at times. We set time and energy for it, and sometimes: nothing. No words, no stirrings in our hearts, no conversation.

            Ugh.

            Like writing, our prayer life has its ebbs and flows, its ups and downs.

            Unlike writing, however, prayer has a few extra things going for it... we have the prayer book(s) to keep us at least in the rhythm of our tradition. We know that we're called to pray, without fear of being judged for their length or quality. We are invited to pray with other folks, knowing that they are supporting us in our 'dry spells'.

            And we trust that we will get through them. We know, deep down, that we will very soon be in deep spiritual connection with the source of love and life, sharing our hopes and fears and thanksgivings.

            To be a writer is to have an expectation of producing words: so sitting in the silence of the blinking cursor isn't ideal.

            To be a pray-er, however, is to delight in sitting in the stillness of God's presence, with or without the structure of words. How blissfully freeing to be one who prays!