I needed to hear this...

From Unceasing Thinking to Unceasing Prayer
Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, daydream, or dream. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love.

Let's break out of our isolation and realize that Someone who dwells in the center of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds. (Henri Nouwen)

I lay in bed last night, feeling very much the victim of my unceasing thoughts. A friend and the challenges she is facing were heavy on my mind. And so I lay there, long after I should have been asleep, and thought, and prayed. Mostly, though, I wondered how to pray. I begged God to hear the cry of my heart and understand, because my mind and lips weren't doing justice to the pain and confusion I was experiencing. And, like any good control freak, I took the opportunity to begin to obsessively sort through the options - trying to solve an unsolvable situation. And I woke up this morning, and started again - sorting through the issues trying to find workable solutions, and wondering how to pray, and if God was even hearing. So, I needed to hear these reminders from Henri Nouwen today. To be reminded to solve less and turn it over to God more. Seems simple, but very necessary tonight.