Spiritual Readings                "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"

Email of Jan. 16, 2001

John B. Coburn’s “Prayer and Personal Religion” remains for me one of my favorite and most useful books on prayer.  In it he talks of five foundation stones of prayer, the second of which is thanksgiving.  Part of thanksgiving is accepting our adversities.  Here are some of his words:

“We are to accept (adversities), believing that God has permitted them to occur so that through them you may turn to him.  It is by taking them as from within the providence of God, or purposes which you do not now know, but which you TRUST will bring you closer to God, that your turn them into blessings.”

I’ve added the emphasis to the word ‘trust.’  Coburn then goes on to quote another favorite of mine, William Law.  Paraphrasing and quoting Law:

“The true saint is not the one who prays most, or fasts most, who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance or justice; but it is the one who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that god wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.”

Giving thanks for all things is still something I can only mouth in prayer sometimes, without really meaning it.  Bit I find that enough sometimes to begin to take the edge off adversity, to begin to pint me in the direction of healing.

May you find this day the resources God has given you to give thanks for more than you are really thankful for.

Grace & peace to you all.

Geoff