![]() When I open my hands, I am saying to God-and to myself-that I can now offer my gifts freely to God and receive whatever gifts God offers this moment.My otherwise usual functioning child (who seems happy, social, loving, outgoing, and only slightly below average academically), exhibits a behavior I describe as "her intensity." On a daily basis, my daughter gets very excited and tenses the muscles in her arms, neck, face and most apparently down to her wrists and fingers. Sometimes the body can help the rest of the person shift when I open my hands, my emotions adjust toward trust and not fear. ![]() See how it feels for your body to be in this open posture. Try opening your hands physically when you pray this week. I am not so focused on the thing I want that I cannot see other possibilities God is waiting to show me. I am not shutting down, nor am I shutting out God. Open hands don’t prevent my complaining-as even the psalmist did sometimes, “morning, noon, and night.” (Psalm 55:17)īut the posture and mood are different when my hands are open. Open hands don’t stop my honesty about what life is like for me right now. Open hands do not get in the way of my crying out in pain or frustration. Open hands also allow me to ask for what I desire. ![]() ![]() I can simply be open to holy love, desire, and purpose. If I come to God in true conversation, confident that God’s love, compassion, mercy, justice, and creativity do not shift or change, then I can let go of desperation and reject my urge for negotiation. Open hands indicate that I am not shaking my fist in anger, wringing my hands in fear, grasping for this moment’s want, or clinging to the outcome I demand. The best image I can come up with for spiritually free prayer is the image of my own hands, relaxed and open. Prayer is a way to be with God, to dwell in that holy space of friendship. We go into the conversation trusting that God already knows our needs and will always care for us. There are no negotiations and hoping against hope that God will be merciful and give us what we need. Spiritual freedom allows us to carry on an open-ended conversation with God, who creates us and loves us always and completely. Ignatius would tell us that this is a very un-free kind of prayer, and it’s not the way one friend talks to another. Too often in our prayer, we do not trust God’s character but rather hope that God will negotiate, taking into account our best efforts and good intentions.
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