August 30

The Power of Prayers

One of the best ways to assist your evolution into higher consciousness and stabilise your sixth sense so that you become an evolved being is to pray. Prayer immediately raises your personal vibration and ushers more light into your body, opens your heart chakra, which in turn activates your sixth sense and connects you with your Higher Self. Prayer isn’t complicated or difficult.

It is simply the practice of communicating on an intimate heart-to-heart level with your Creator.
When you pray you ask your personal ego to step aside and you surrender your personal energy over to a Higher Power, asking it to work through you, to bring about balance and healing.

Prayer allows Divine power to do for you what your own personal power and resources operating on a five sensory level can’t. Just in case you don’t already know this, in blind study after blind study, research shows that prayer works, so even science confirms that prayer is probably a good idea.
Prayer heals. Prayer calms. Prayer strengthens. Prayer balances and restores order. Prayer attracts solutions that we could never even imagine possible, which is what we call miracles. Prayer is a direct link to heaven and keeps us plugged into our source.

Some people wonder if there is a correct way to pray. I believe the answer to this is, “Yes, there is. Your way.” Prayer is such a personal and intimate connection with Divine Source that the right way to pray is in whatever way you personally intuitively feel moved to pray. After all, prayer, like everything else soulful, is an art, and your prayer is your art.

The other day I went to my computer to log onto the Internet for something and much to my dismay there was something wrong with my computer and I couldn’t establish the connection I had wanted to.

I felt frustrated and really disappointed that I was unable to gain access to this vast and free resource when I really needed it. Praying is very similar to logging on to the Internet, only better.
It is spiritually logging on to Divine Wisdom, the ultimate resource for needed support and guidance.
Like everything else that connects us to our sixth sense, prayer is most effective when practiced. That means we should pray all the time, until it becomes automatic.

Pray when you first wake up in the morning.
Pray when you take a shower.
Pray before your drink your morning coffee and when you drive to work.
Pray for direction, for the easiest and best way to get through your day.
Pray for inspiration, and for your health.
Pray for success in your projects and for patience when those around you get on your nerves.
Pray for forgiveness and an open heart.
Pray for the answer to your problems and where to find your car keys.
Pray for creative inspiration and for better health.
Pray to release the past and to open your mind and heart to a better future.
Pray for the willingness to let go of the old and outdated and reach out for something new.
Pray for understanding.
Pray for faith. Pray for peace. Pray for a happy heart in spite of everything. That’s just for starters. You can then begin to pray for others, and their well-being. Pray for your family, your job, and your co-workers. Pray for your enemies and your competition.
And most of all, pray for the world and world peace.

In fact, pray for everything you can think of.

When you pray you instantly raise your personal vibration to a higher and more harmonious energy pattern. This higher vibration has a healing effect on your physical and emotional body.
It calms your anxiety, soothes your nerves, and eases your tension. It has helped relieve high blood pressure, lift depression, and cure sickness, although the scientists aren’t sure how. In fact prayer has even been known to cause miracles!

Prayer is basic training for anyone who wants to become a six-sensory being. It not only opens you up to receiving assistance from a higher power, it also relieves you of the stress of “figuring things out” for yourself. Prayer simply turns things over to Divine Source for solution and takes the pressure off of you. One of the hallmarks of a six sensory being is the absence of worry over how things will work out.

There are no instructions when it comes to prayer. Pray whenever you feel like it, about anything you feel like, and in whatever way you feel like.

Don’t worry if you are doing it right. God knows better than you, what you mean and need.
The point of prayer is not so much what you pray for, or how, because we are often confused when we pray, but that in praying we allow for Divine Spirit to enter into our hearts and into our lives to straighten things out.

The beauty of prayer is that with it God does straighten things out and always better than we could have asked for or imagined.

Category: Morals N Ethics, Prayers | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 16

Hajj Spirituality At Its Best

An Ever Green Conversation of our 4th Imam, Imam Zaynul Abidin (A.S.), with his companion Shibli



When the Fourth Imam Zaynul Abidin (as) returned from Hajj, Shibli came to meet him. They engaged in the following conversation:



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you go for Hajj O Shibli?

Shibli: Yes O son of the Messenger of Allah.



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you stop at the Miqat (Miqat are the stations at which pilgrims on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Makkah, put on ihram, the pilgrim’s garment) and put away the sewn clothes and perform the sacred bath?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you stopped at Miqat did you make the intention that you are taking off the clothes of disobedience and putting on the clothes of obedience?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you had taken off your sewn clothes did you make the intention that you had taken off hypocrisy and entering dubious acts?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you took the bath did you have the intention that you are washing yourself from all sins and errors?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not stop at Miqat, nor did you take off sewn clothes nor did you perform the sacred bath.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you cleanse yourself and put on Ihram and fulfil your covenant of Hajj?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you did this did you have the intention that you are cleaning yourself with the nurah of the sincere repentance to Almighty Allah the most high?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you put on the Ihram did you have the intention that you are forbidding yourself everything that Almighty Allah has forbidden?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you fulfilled the covenant of Hajj did you have the intention that you have nullified all other covenants with other than Allah?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not cleanse yourself nor did you put on the Ihram nor did you fulfil the covenant of hajj.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you enter the Miqat and pray the two Rakats of the Ihram and did you chant Talbiyah?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you entered the Miqat, did you make the intention of entering as a visitor?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you prayed the two Rakats did you make the intention that you are trying to get closer to Allah (SWT) with the best of acts from the prayers and the biggest of good deeds from the acts of worship?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you chanted the Talbiyah did you have the intention that you were talking to almighty Allah with all obedience and keeping quiet from all disobedience?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not enter Miqat nor did you pray nor did you chant the Talbiyah.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you enter the Haram and did you see the Kaaba and did you pray there?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you entered the Haram did you have the intention that you were prohibiting on yourself all backbiting of all the Muslims from the Nations of Islam?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you reached Makka did you make the intention with your heart that you had come to Almighty Allah (SWT)?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You have neither entered Haram nor seen the Kaaba nor prayed.

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you go round the house and did you touch the Rukn and did you make Saee?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you did the Saee did you have the intention that you were running towards Almighty Allah and did Allah the knower of all secrets know this?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not go round the house nor did you touch Rukn nor did you make Saee.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you touch the Hajar al-Aswad (The Black Stone) and did you stand at the Maqam Ibrahim (Station of Abraham) and did you pray two Rakats on it?

Shibli: Yes



Here the Imam Zaynul Abidin (as) gave a scream as if he was about to leave this world saying Ah! Ah! Whoever touches the black stone it is as if he has shaken hands with Almighty Allah (SWT). So Look O poor chap that you do not destroy the reward of something whose sacredness has been made very great and you do not spoil your Handshake by disobedience and by grasping evil like the sinners.



Then Imam Zaynul Abidin (as) asked: Did you have the intention when you were standing on Maqam Ibrahim (Station of Abraham) that you were are standing on every obedience and that you have put behind you all disobedience?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you prayed two Rakats there did you make the intention that you are praying the prayers of Ibrahim and that you are humiliating Shaitan with your prayers?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not stand on Maqam Ibrahim (Station of Abraham) nor did you pray two Rakats on it.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you look over the well of Zamzam and did you drink from its water?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you have the intention when you were looking over the well that you looking at obedience to Almighty Allah and closing your eyes from all disobedience?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not look over it nor did you drink from its water.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you run between Safa and Marwa and did you walk between it repeatedly?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you have the intention that you were between hope and fear?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not run between Safa and Marwa.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you go out to Mina?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you have the intention that every Muslim was safe from your tongue, your heart and you?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): You did not go out to Mina.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you stay a short time at Arafa and did you climb Jabal al-Rahma and did you recognize the wadi of Namira and did to supplicate to Almighty Allah near al-Mil and al-Jamaraat?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you conceive by your stay in Arafa the gnosis (Irfan) of Almighty Allah (SWT) and the knowledge of good things and acts; and did you conceive that your book of deeds was in the hands of Allah and that Allah had full knowledge of your secrets and what is in your heart?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you climbed the Jabal al-Rahma did you have the intention that Almighty Allah may have mercy on all believing men and all believing women and that He will help all Muslim men and women?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you have the intention at wadi of Namira that you would not enjoin good until you practice it yourself and you would not forbid evil until you leave it yourself?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you stopped at al-Mil and al-Jamaraat did you have the intention that they were witnessing all your acts of worship and that they were guarding you together with guardian angels by the order of Almighty Allah?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Then you did not stay at Arafat nor did you go up the Mountain of Mercy nor did you recognize the wadi of Namirah nor did you supplicate to Almighty Allah.

Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you pass between the two columns pray two Rakats before crossing; go to Muzdalifah pick up pebbles and cross the Mash’arul Haram?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you prayed the two Rakats, did you have the intention that you were praying the prayer of thanksgiving within the ten nights which removes every hardship and facilitates every ease?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): At the time of passing between the two columns without deviating to the right or the left did you have the intention that you would never deviate from the true religion to the right or the left neither with your heart, tongue nor with your limbs?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you walked through Muzdalifah and picked up the pebbles did you have the intention that you have plucked all acts of disobedience and ignorance and that you had affirmed knowledge and action?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Then when you walked in the Mash’arul Haram did you have the intention that you had embossed your heart with the identification of those who have Taqwa and fear of Almighty Allah the Most High?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Then you did not pass between the two columns nor did you pray the two Rakats, nor walked into Muzdalifah, nor picked up the pebbles nor walked in the Mash’arul Haram.



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Did you arrive at Mina, throw stones at the Jamarah and did you shave your head and slaughter the sacrifice and did you pray in Masjid al-Kheef and did you return to Makkah and perform the Tawaf of Ifadha (return) to Makkah?

Shibli: Yes



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): When you reached Mina and pelted the Jamarah did you have the intention that you have attained your goal and your Lord has fulfilled all your needs?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you pelted the Jamarah did you have the intention that you had pelted your enemy Iblees and by completing this precious Hajj you had disobeyed him?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you shaved your head did you have the intention that you had cleansed yourself from all filth and from all the injustice of the children of Adam and that you had purified yourself from sin just like a new born baby.

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you slaughtered your hadiya did you have the intention that you are cutting the artery of greed by holding fast to the reality of piety and that you are following the tradition of Ibrahim (A.S.) when he was prepared to slighter his son, the fruit of his heart, through which he established the Sunna of gaining nearness to Almighty Allah for those who came after him?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): And when you returned to Makka and did the Tawaaf of Ifadha did you have the intention that you had come back with the Mercy of Almighty Allah to His obedience and that you had clasped His love that you had performed your duty to Him and had gained nearness to him?

Shibli: No



Imam Zaynul Abidin (as): Then you did not reach Mina nor did you pelt the Jamaraat nor did you shave your head nor did you slaughter the hadiya nor did you pray in the Masjid Al-Kheef nor did you return to Makkah and perform the Tawaaf of Ifadha. Go back because you have not performed Hajj!



Having heard all this Shibli started to cry because of what he had missed in his Hajj and he continued to learn the secrets of Hajj until he could perform the Hajj through knowledge and understanding.



Reference: http://www.qul.org.au/islamic-occasions/hajj-the-pilgrimage/1200-conversation-between-imam-zain-ul-abideen-and-shibli

Category: Ahlul Bayt, Hajj | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 3

Allah Listens To Our Prayers – A Nice Story Testing FAITH.

A young man had been to Wednesday Night Class of Quranic Studies. The Muslim (Scholar) had shared about listening to Allah and obeying Allah through intuition.

The young man couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Does Allah still speak to people through intuition?’

After Lessons, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how Allah had led them in different ways and that at the end you’ll know it was Allah (SWT) Who has directed you.

It was about ten o’clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, ‘Allah…If you still speak

to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.‘

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, ‘Allah is that you?’ He didn’t get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk came into his head. ‘Okay, Allah, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.’ It didn’t seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, ‘Turn Down that street.’ This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, ‘Okay, Allah, I will.’

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst of neighbourhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, ‘Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.’ The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. ‘Allah, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.’ Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened the door, ‘Okay Allah (SWT), if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look

like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don’t answer right away, I am out of here.‘

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man’s voice yelled out, ‘Who is it? What do you want?’ Then the door opened before the young man could get away.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn’t seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. ‘What is it?’

The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, ‘Here, I brought this to you.’ The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, ‘We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn’t have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking Allah (SWT) to show me how to get some milk.’

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, ‘I ask him to send an Angel with some milk. Are you an Angel?’

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man’s hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that Allah (SWT) still answers prayers.

Category: Interesting Stories, Morals N Ethics, Prayers | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 13

Valentines Day

And every time February 14th approaches, I think of Imam Khomeini ……

Imam’s wife would say, "I was never woken up by Imam praying Salatul Layl because he would never switch on the room light. When he would go to do wudhoo, he would place a sponge in the sink under the tap so that the sound of the falling water would not wake me."

Agha always offered me the better place in the room.  He would not start
eating until I came to the dinner table.  He would also tell the children:

‘Wait until Maa comes.’ 

He was not even willing that I should work in the house.  He would always
tell me: ‘Don’t sweep.’  If I wanted to wash the children’s clothes at the
pond, he would come and say: “Get up, you shouldn’t be washing.” 

On the whole, I have to say that Imam did not consider sweeping, washing
dishes and even washing my children’s clothes as part of my responsibilities. If out of necessity I sometimes did these, he would get
upset considering them as a type of unjust dealing towards me. Even when I entered the room, he would never say: ‘Close the door behind
you,’ but waited till I sat down and then would himself get up and shut the door.

His daughter Siddika says: My father had an extraordinary respect for my
mother.  In the period of 60 years of living together, he did not even reach
for food (on the dinner table) before his wife, nor did he have even the
smallest expectation from her.  I can even say that in the period of 60
years of living together, at no time did he even ask for a glass of water,
but would always get it himself. 

He behaved this way not only with his wife but also with all of us who were
his daughters. If he ever wanted water we would all enthusiastically run to
get it, but he never wanted us to bring and give him a glass of water in his hand.

During the difficult last days of his life, each time he would open his
eyes, if he was capable of speaking, he would ask: ‘How is Khanom?’  We
would reply: ‘She is good.  Shall we tell her to come to you?’  He would
answer: ‘No, her back is hurting.  Let her rest.’

Here is one of the letters he wrote to her:

To my beloved wife,

imam khomeiniO’ I die for you. I have always remembered you when you – the light of my eyes and strength of my soul- have been away from me. Your pretty face is shining in my heart like in a mirror…..

I really miss you her in Beirut. You can find a lot of beautiful places to visit in the city and at the sea. What a pity that my dearest is not with me……

This has been a good journey so far  trip but you are  really and truly missed. I miss our son, Seyyed Mustafa. I pray that  God will protect you both.

I love you so much.

Duas & Salaams

Ruhullah Khomeini

Category: Interesting Stories | 2 Comments on Valentines Day
February 8

The Most Decorative Clothing

Misbahush Shar’iah, sec. seven, on "Clothing"; from Adabus Salat by Imam Khomeini

 

It is stated in Misbahush-Shari’ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said:

"The most decorative clothing for the believer is the clothing of taqwa, and the finest one is faith. Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, said: ‘and the clothing of taqwa, that is the best.’

As to the exterior clothing, it is a blessing from Allah, as it covers the nakedness of the children of Adam. lt is a grace granted by Allah to His servants, the children of Adam (AS), which He did not grant to other than them.

To the believers, it is a means to perform the duties imposed by Allah upon them. The best of your clothing is that which does not distract you from Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, rather it brings you nearer to thanking, remembering and obeying Him, and it does not bear you to conceit, hypocrisy, decoration, taking pride and boasting, as these are among the pests of the religion and bring cruelty to the heart.

When you put on your dress, remember Allah, the concealer of your sins by His mercy. Clothe your interior with truthfulness, as you dressed your exterior with your dress. Let your interior be under the protection of fear, and your exterior under the protection of obedience.

Take a lesson from the favour of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, as He created the means for making clothes to conceal the apparent nakedness, and He opened the doors of repentance and imploring in order to cover the internal sins and evil characters.

Do not uncover anyone’s faults, as Allah has covered your greater faults. Attend to your own faults, and forgive that whose state and affair do not concern you. Beware of perishing your life for the action of others, letting the others trade with your capital, while you destroy yourself.

Forgetting the sins is of the gravest punishments from Allah in this world, and of the most effective causes for the punishments in the Hereafter.

As long as the servant is engaged in his obedience to Allah, the Exalted, in recognizing his own defects and abandoning what is disgraceful in the religion of Allah, he will be isolated from the plagues, plunging in the sea of the mercy of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, and will win the gems of the advantages of wisdom and expression. But as long as he is forgetting his sins, unfamiliar with his defects, resorting to his own might and force, he will never be successful."

Category: Ahlul Bayt | 1 Comment on The Most Decorative Clothing
January 18

An Hour Of Prayer

By Barbara Bartocci (Readers’ Digest – September,1988)

It was my birthday, that morning in February 1978, and I felt harried as I grabbed my briefcase and headed for a business breakfast. Life had been a good to me overall. My small advertising agency was thriving. Husband and children were well. Yet something seemed to be missing – something that didn’t even a have a name. I felt it only as a small emptiness inside.

At the restaurant I joined Don Campbell, a tall, lantern-jawed man of 60-odd years. He was a successful marketing consultant with an unusual empathy for people. I was always struck by his calm, peaceful manner.

Over poached eggs we discussed an advertising project and then, business behind us, I mentioned my birthday and confessed to my nagging feeling of emptiness.

"Want to fill it?" Don asked.

"Sure."

"Start your day with an hour of prayer."

"I don’t have time for that!" I gasped.

"Exactly what I said twenty years ago. I was president of a Chicago ad agency and running every which way just to keep up.. I couldn’t find time for it. I had the sinking feeling that my life was getting out of control. Then a friend told me I was going about things backward.

" ‘You’re trying to fit God into your life,’ he said. ‘Five minutes here, ten minutes there. You need to fit your life around God, and you do that with a commitment. An hour a day – now that’s commitment.’ The idea is to take a chunk of time big enough to mean something to you and then, give that chunk to God."

Don’s eyes twinkled. "I thought my friend was off his rocker. To find an extra hour for God, I’d have to get up an hour earlier. I’d lose sleep and ruin my health." The twinkle turned into a grin. "But I haven’t been sick in twenty years."

Twenty years!

I left the restaurant in turmoil. An hour of prayer? Preposterous! Yet I couldn’t get Don’s idea out of my mind.

Saying nothing to our three teenagers or to my husband, Bill, I set my alarm for 5 a.m. We live in the Midwest and oh, it’s cold and dark at 5 a.m. in February. I wanted to curl back under the blanket, but I forced myself to get up.

The house wrapped around me, dark and gloomy. I tiptoed to the living room, ignoring Burt, our Labrador retriever, and settled on the couch. It was peculiar being alone with God. No church rituals.. Just me. And God. For an hour.

I glanced at my watch and cleared my throat. " Well, God, here I am. Now what?"

I would like to report that God replied immediately, but there was only quiet. As I watched the first tinges of sunrise I tried to pray, but thought instead of my son Andy and the fight we’d had the day before. I thought about a client whose business had hit a rough spot.. I thought of inconsequential things.

Yet gradually my erratic thoughts slowed. My breathing slowed, too, until I sensed a stillness within me. I grew aware of small sounds, the refrigerator hum, Burt’s tail slapping the floor, a frozen branch brushing a window. Then I felt the warm presence of love. I know no other way to describe it. The air, the very place in which I sat, seemed to change, as the ambiance of a house will change when someone you love is home.

I had been sitting for 50 minutes, but only then did I really begin to pray. And I discovered I wasn’t praying with my usual hurried words or my list of "gimmes."

All my life I’d been told God loves me. On that cold February morning I felt his love, and the immensity of it was so overwhelming that I sat in quiet thanksgiving for nearly 15 minutes. Then Andy’s alarm went off and Burt gave a small woof. The ordinary day had begun. But all through the rest of that day, I felt warmed by the memory of that love.

The next day morning the house seemed even darker and colder than before. But, shivering, I did get up. One more day, I thought.

And the next day, One more day.

Day by day, six year passed.

There have been plenty of crises in those years: difficulty with one of our teenagers, marital turbulence, a big financial loss. Through every crisis, I have found a quietness of soul in that hour with God. It gives me time to put things in perspective, to find God in every circumstance.Once I find him, there seems to be no problem that cannot be resolved.

Some mornings, I am quickly filled with the wonder and glory of God. But other mornings, I feel nothing. That’s when I remember something else Don Campbell said: "There will be times when your mind just won’t go into God’s sanctuary. That’s when you spend your hour in God’s waiting room. Still, you’re there, and God appreciates your struggle to stay there. What’s important is the commitment."

Because of it, my life is better. Starting my day with an hour of prayer has filled the empty space to overflowing.

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