A Defiance of our Empirical Senses

I have a little bit of Spring Break/Easter hangover. Many of our family members have Spring Break the week following Easter, and I think I am ready to petition for that idea. It has been an exhausting effort to get back on track!

Often, when I am feeling depleted or lacking inspiration, I enjoy the gift of shared communication through liturgy or poetry. One evening this week I was reading through a reflective poem by Jeremiah Webster. The poem was thought provoking and engaging, and it led me to an interview recorded with Jeremiah regarding his poetry in general. 

He draws a connection between poetry and prayer, it caused me to pause in consideration of intentional mindset as I pray. 

“We love what we pay attention to… I think that has deep application to our work as poets. Taking the time to really pay attention. I think of prayer in this way. Why do we close our eyes to pray? It’s a defiance of our empirical senses. It’s a very public acknowledgment that the material world is not the sum total of reality. You have to shut off the noise to attend to the heavenly realm. At its best, the Christian life should be a way of enchantment and wonder. Jesus is always interrogating what we perceive to be true. ‘You say…but I say to you.’ The Christian life should lead us upward and onward to the beatitude economy where the worldly order of things is disrupted. This is the source of abundant life…”

A lot of my prayer happens while I drive or walk.  It’s not a good time to shut my eyes and defy my senses. But, when I am praying with my kids or at the dinner table or in the quiet morning moments, closing my eyes is a symbolic way of asking God to let me see what he sees and to bring me into awareness of the kingdom around me. Closing my eyes to earthly perception allows me to wonder and be enchanted with imagination. It’s the physical expression of releasing my interpretation and receiving his.

Webster goes on to say, “Poets spend their time and energy on something the world doesn’t value and they do so in faith that the work will have enduring significance. It’s a way to preemptively enter the habits of heaven.”

And to that idea I feel my heart quicken and say, “Yes please to habits of heaven!”

This week I am praying with my eyes closed for heavenly input as I hold thoughts of contributions to church finances, provision for our staff and building, and the responses of every heart that engaged Easter…at our church or any other place they had the opportunity. Following the resurrection, Jesus spent time individually connecting with his friends. I am praying for those same kind of personal interactions with his children this week and in the days to come. He came in expressions of relational significance to speak directly to their hearts, and he is still doing that today. From those places came renewed faith, healed perceptions, new identity and calling, restored understanding, and overflowing love. 

Let’s close our eyes together and see how God is inviting us to partner in the delivery of these miracles into our family.