A Pure Heart

Lately I've been trying to be intentional with my prayers, and have spent some time reflecting on the nature of prayer. Now in no way have I got the essence/nature of prayer completely figured out, but God has been revealing some insights to me. I finished up Nouwen's The Way of the Heart last night. Here's something he wrote on the prayer of the heart that I thought was worth sharing:

The prayer of the heart is a prayer that does not allow us to limit our relationship with God to interesting words or pious emotions. By its very nature such prayer transforms our whole being into Christ precisely because it opens the eyes of our soul to the truth of ourselves as well as to the truth of God. In our heart we come to see ourselves as sinners embraced by the mercy of God....The Prayer of the heart challenges us to hide absolutely nothing from God and to surrender ourselves unconditionally to his mercy. Thus the prayer of the heart is the prayer of truth.

These powerful words really humbled me last night. Simplicity in prayer is valuable; the position of our heart is valuable; my nifty words or thoughts are not. The truth is I'm a sinner, God is full of mercy, and my prayers should remind me of that. This truth has the ability to fill my soul and bring peace to my chaotic life. It cleanses my heart of worry and makes my life more pure, less distracted. This truth brings us into the very presence of God, and it's there we can find rest. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God--so true, so true.
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I was thinking I'd start a picture of the day, mainly because I love pictures. We'll see how it goes the next couple of times. Many of these will probably be from Ukraine (because I love it there), and will be the work of Ashley Mize (because she's incredible). Pics of extraordinarily special people, in an unforgettable place, by an extremely talented person.