Prayer in Times of Divine Chaos
In the book, Entering the Castle, by Caroline Myss, subtitled An Inner Path to God and your Soul, the author speaks of chaos as an organic expression of the divine. She says that divine chaos cannot be stopped, manipulated, postponed, or bargained with.
“It sweeps into your life, taking charge of your life path and redirecting you according to its own plan—not yours. …There is a divine purpose that moves in tandem with every event in your life, painful and joyful.” P. 135/136
When some unforeseen, unpleasant event comes into our lives, wreaking havoc in our ordinary and planned life, and causing chaos and unexplained trials, our first instinct is to ask God to take it all away, make it better, and remove our pain and anguish. But we need to remember that out of divine chaos new life can emerge.
In Genesis, chapter one, we are told that out of chaos God formed the planet earth and brought life, plant, animal, and human, to the earth.
If divine chaos arrives in our lives, new spiritual life and growth can be the outcome when we ask God to guide us in God’s holy path.
In order for this to happen, we need to ask God, not to remove our difficulties but to give us guidance as to how best to cooperate with the divine chaos so that we can make the most out of the new life that God wants to bring to us.
Judith Lawrence
Judith is a Professional member of The Word Guild and author of two non-fiction books, Prayer Companion: A Treasury of Personal Meditation, and Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years, as well as one book of mystical poetry, Grapes from the Vine. Judith writes a monthly meditation, which can be found on her website: www.judithlawrence.ca. Judith’s latest spiritual book, Highway of Holiness: Soul Journey is now available. You can purchase it through Wipf and Stock Publishers.
