If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that prayer takes time and patience.  And there are so many forms of prayer: praying without ceasing, devotional prayer, deep meditative prayer and of course corporate/group prayer which is what we are doing today. I’ve done all of these and no matter what form prayer takes, it comes back to a relationship and intimacy with the Lord and a service to others.

 

I made this piece to visually translate what I’ve learned about prayer. The colors are gradient from the bottom (soil) to middle (growth) up to the top (God).  The beads are seeds at the bottom in the soil and the stitching represents prayers being offered; some going all the way to the top and some short ones just beginning and some seeds have no growth. You’ll notice three gold threads which represent the Trinity because God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all involved in our prayers.  In fact Romans 8:26 says sometimes we don’t even know how to pray and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and puts the right words together for the Father. 

 

This piece took a lot of patience like prayer does. First, I tried three different thumb-nail sketches before I finally settled on this one.  The stitching took a lot of time and I had to decide on what colors to use.  But when I finally began, it was very meditative and in fact I put on Taize music while I was stitching and the stitches became prayers of worship as well as names of people I was praying for at the time.

 

So I’ve learned prayer is eternal, an inheritance, a privilege, a process and a journey that takes us from our time and space to the Heavenly Father who answers them according to His will and His time. 

 

Acrylic on paper with stitching and beads

References: Ephesians 6:18-20; Romans 8:26