Mind, Body, Soul…and Eggs

I went for a 7am breakfast at the Eggs Up restaurant the other day. Half-way through the meal a  young couple took an adjacent booth. As they were ordering, the man said, “I don’t like eggs, what do you recommend?” I guess he didn’t see the restaurant sign…but as it turns out, they have really good pancakes and waffles so the waitress had no problem. When I looked over, I noticed a large crucifix tattoo on his outer leg.
Then I picked up some of conversation in the back corner; a bunch of 30-something guys. I heard “truck” references as well as “christian and God” interspersed  with the slurping of coffee.
I was boxed in, I felt like I was at church.
So I started thinking. My prayer hasn’t been on full potential lately, and I’ve learned that when I need to try and fix something, the on/off switch needs to be toggled so I can go back to some basics - like a mathematician going back to the multiplication tables. Lately, when I pray on my back deck, all I seem to hear is road construction, a passing car, and jets 20,000 feet up leaving vapor trails, and not the whisperings of God wafting through the high pines. I need God in the rhythm of my life.
Do I believe in God - check. What does God want me to do? I’m not smart enough to answer that, but I have references. (Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, and mind…Love your neighbor as yourself.”)
How do I do that? I guess that’s up to each person, grounded in humility but with guidance from their church. I’m Catholic so I have the magisterium of the Church.
My life is now on the other side of the 7th inning stretch. I can write a check, but can’t lift a shovel for even half a day. I can help others in various ways, but my mission trips are over….but… I like my eggs scrambled, over easy, over medium, well done, and hard-boiled. There are plenty of things still to do. I’ve been lucky to have a caring wife, wonderful parents, and a big sister. If I need inspiration, I’ve looked to them and their lives.
And I can pray - and submit to the mystery of the prayer process. God wants to hear from all of us, anyway we choose. Catholics have many platforms of prayer; the rosary, meditation, novenas, the Hours, and so on. We have long prayers and short ones, Veni Sancte Spiritu (Enter,Holy Spirit), all types of conversations with God. You may be with another church, no matter, if you believe in God you want to talk to Him in a way you find meaningful and humble - and He wants to talk to you.
 Nota Bela: I’ve always admired our Protestant brothers and sisters ability for spontaneous corporate prayer, but if you don’t want the food to get cold, don’t let them say the blessing…(;-).  
As a goal, I try to meet God in conversation with my head bowed in supplication, but my heart open, honest, and wanting. I know He knows my heart and during that time I need to open up myself, and let Him know of my gratitude, my fears, and my intentions. My failing is that too many times, I am impatient and the words from me are  spoken half-heartedly and come out of me as if on a spool of barbed wire. And although the traditional ways of prayer are very important, sometimes, more than I care to remember, they become stated tasks of the day. I’m realizing now that I was pushing the words, moving faster than grace allows.  And I haven’t even gotten to my excuses and vacillation; life gets hectic, I don’t feel worthy, I’ll get to it later, I want to stop and birth my own perfect prayer, all excuses so I don’t have to meet God half-way…no, half-way is wrong. God wants to meet any way.- and too often I’ve put God on a clock and failed to hear God’s whispers and treated prayer like a vending machine, insert a prayer and pull the knob.
So without realizing it, I’ve had it backwards. I thought I was waiting on God, but He was waiting on me.
I think I’ll sit on the back deck awhile, be humble and still. See what happens.
One of the lessons learned from The Great Divorce, a novel about people that went heaven and found it lacking, CS Lewis wrote, “Overcome us that, so overcome, we may be ourselves: we desire the beginning of your ring as we desire dawn and dew, wetness at the birth of light…
I’m glad I went to breakfast. I’m grateful to God for the man with the tattoo and the group of men in the corner.