Did you ever wonder what’s the best position for prayer? You’ve probably heard the saying, the most fervent prayer is the one prayed by someone hanging upside down in a well. As we can be thankful that experience is unlikely, how should we pray. This came to mind because C.S. Lewis thought kneeling was the best, even though with his osteoporosis, he couldn’t in later life. I can relate. When I kneel, the pain in my knees distracts me, cutting prayer time short. Though I agree with Lewis that kneeling can instantly put me in a prayerful attitude, my main issue is not the position I’m in, it’s ridding myself of distractions. That’s why, though I talk to God throughout the day, setting aside a special time for focused prayer is especially important, no matter the position.

My school-teacher neighbor had driven home from work and stopped to pick up her mail. As it happened, I was at my mailbox at the same time. We have the rural type mailboxes out on the road in front of our houses. We waved and retrieved our mail. She held up her mail and said something I didn’t quite hear so she repeated. She said, “Do you want my bills?” “No,” I yelled back and waved my mail. “Do you want my junk mail?” We laughed as we went back to our houses. Just a quick encounter with a neighbor, but during these times, a precious moment. How often have I taken our neighborhood get-togethers for granted. How often have I taken my neighbors and friends for granted. Help us, Lord, to remember the lessons learned from this year of quarantine.

Are you still trying to overcome on your own? You know what I mean. All those ideas on how to trick yourself into doing better, whether it’s how to keep your resolutions or hold your tongue or control your thoughts. And then finding in the long term none of them work? Maybe that’s not your problem, but I have to admit it’s been mine. I’ve had to learn if I want to experience the Christian life as it was meant to be, the only way is to stay close to our Savior. Repentance means a total radical life change and that can’t be done on our own. Looking to ourselves to measure if we’re more righteous today than yesterday is self-defeating and discouraging. Pray with him, meditate on his words, stay close to him. Walk with him in faith that he has already done for us what we couldn’t accomplish on our own. Our righteousness is in him.

As I was having my morning coffee, I noticed through the large half-moon window in my living room wave after V-formation wave of geese flying overhead. Were they going to the lake around the corner from my house or farther on to Lake Texoma? Not sure. It’s early for them to be headed north, but that’s the direction they were headed. Geese migrate to southern Texas but they don’t usually fly back north until around April. (Some geese hang around on the Texas golf courses, even through part of the summer, which doesn’t make golfers too happy.) I hope the unusually warmer winter hasn’t confused them. I feel like yelling out the door, Hey, wait, it’s only January!

As I was driving in to do my grocery pickup, I saw some guineas alongside the road. That’s not a sight I see every day. As I drove on, I wondered what you call a “flock” of guineas. I know you call a number of geese a gaggle and crows a murder, but what about guineas. FYI, they are called a confusion of guineas and their babies are called keets. Now I’ll bet we both know something we didn’t know before. They are funny birds, not like chickens. (New owners who don’t know this are in for quite a surprise.) They make loud, annoying chipping sounds constantly, and they can fly really well. So they like to roost in trees and roam around wherever they like. That’s why not only do I have to watch out for loose cattle, donkeys and horses, I have to slow down for guineas! I love living in Texas!

When we think of Jesus as the mediator between us and the Father, making our prayers perfect before presenting them to God, we might have the tendency to believe our prayers are somehow not worthy. That is not the case at all. Our prayers are precious to God even in their imperfections. As the Holy Spirit and our Savior lift our prayers to God our words are strengthened and affirmed. They become what we really wanted to say from the heart and couldn’t quite manage.

“I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear,” said Martin Luther King Jr. If we are to experience life as God intended, we have to let go of our personal agendas and biases. We have to ask God to help us discern the truth, even when that truth differs from what we already believe. On this Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, I’m asking God to remove my blind spots (the beams from my eye). Let’s look to Christ together and pray together and respect one another and humbly admit we may not always see things as they actually are. May God help us and our country to choose love, not hate!

Though I’m told not a lot of people bother making New Year’s resolutions anymore, I do believe the New Year is a good time to take a long look at ourselves. I, for one, kid around about being an introvert, but am I using that personality trait as an excuse for not reaching out to others? Hmm! Even this long quarantine session hasn’t been as bad on me as my extroverted friends. I’m really good at social distancing even without a pandemic. Do I judge others for being different from me? Hmm, again. Some of my friends feel a strong need to be with others, not just once in a while, but often. They feel charged up by social contact and can become depressed without it. Actually, I’m thankful for those friends. Without friends like that, I would definitely be a hermit!

Have you ever hesitated to reach out to someone suffering from a devastating loss, such as the death of a parent, a spouse or a child? It’s difficult to know what to say to that kind of debilitating pain. We’ve all heard what we shouldn’t say (at least I hope so), but what can we do? As one who has suffered such loss, I will say this, no matter if it’s hard, reach out anyway. It doesn’t have to be a phone call or a personal visit; it can be a text or an email or even a response on Facebook. But I believe written cards are the best. I didn’t realize the importance of sympathy cards until I lost a son. And, don’t worry if you’re late hearing about the loss. Every day for months I received at least one, usually several sympathy cards from friends and family. Those kind messages of love and support helped lift the burden of grief I was carrying.

When I was young, my dad brought me home a horse. It was a love-hate relationship from the beginning. That gray mare sensed immediately I wasn’t a seasoned rider and gave me all kinds of trouble, which always included inflicting pain on my skinny body. But finally, as I became more experienced, we came to a kind of cease fire. She may not have been the best gift, but she gave me one of the best gifts a horse-crazy teenager could want. One frigid February morning with a punishing Western Oklahoma wind freezing our faces, my dad and I braced the blowing snow to get to the barn to witness the birth of the most beautiful filly I had ever seen. I trained her and rode her for many years. I loved that horse! Some believe your beloved animal friends will be there with family and friends to meet you when you’re resurrected. I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, I’m sure I’ll be riding a luminous, whiter-than-white, flying, but very familiar, horse then.