Well, in case you were not aware, recently I had the privilege of being the first guest to post a blog over at Joy Wilson's Blog, otherwise known as Solacetree.  I had met Joy previoulsy online and then in person at the Outlaw Preacher's (re)Union 2011 in September.  So to return the favor, Joy has graciously chosen to gift Indiefaith with a piece of her art below.  And so now, without further ado, my very first guest blogger, the beautiful and talented Mrs. Joy Wilson: ________________________________________________________________ As a kid, my girlfriends found it hilarious that I couldn’t stay awake all night at a slumber party like them.  Nobody goes to a slumber party to sleep.  The point is to stay up all night being silly and loud, trashing the kitchen, eating junk food, and making your parents nuts.  So why was I always out cold in my sleeping bag by midnight, oblivious to the chaos going on around me?  I’m wired like that.  I’m a Morning Person. Prior to cutting my ties with a “regular” job to work as a full-time author, I rarely awakened to the alarm clock going off.  Usually I woke up on my own a good thirty minutes or more before the buzzer sounded, and turned it off so the stupid thing wouldn’t be screaming while I was in the shower.  I set the alarm every night anyway in preparation for the occasional times I “slept in” on a work day. Now that I can sleep as late as I want, I still wake up to outside darkness, and I love it.  First thing I do is make coffee and feed the six cats and two dogs while it brews.  Then with a steaming mug of black Starbucks, I head outside to listen. I’ve heard prayer described as talking to God and meditation as listening to God.  I think both of those are inaccurate.  Meditation is listening for God, whether we hear Him/Her or not.  Prayer is talking with God; words are optional. As an author, I write in silence, because I have to listen intently to what comes up from the heart/ mind/ spirit/ soul of both myself and God.  Ninety percent of the time, when I try to write solo, it’s drivel and ends up in the trash.  When God is my co-author, the result is radiant. Outside, in the pre-dawn dark with coffee for company, I choose to intentionally listen without any expectations.  I had to practice learning how to just sit still with a quiet mind.  It’s easy to think about the day’s to-do list, talk to God, talk to myself, or just stare, brain-dead.  But intentionally listen to nothing?  What’s the point? Peace. Jesus said, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39).  “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God. “  “Be still” is also translated as “cease striving, let go, relax”. Hush.  Relax.  Be still. Only when I’m completely available in mind/heart/spirit/soul/body am I able to receive one of the most precious things God wants to give me, one of my heart’s deepest desires: Peace of heart and mind. So where does prayer come into this?  This is a form of prayer, folks – prayer without words.  Jesus prayed like this a lot.  In the gospels, Jesus often ran off by himself to pray.  I bet he got tired of ministering to the multitudes, plus his hand-picked disciples drove him crazy.  Luke 6:12 says he spent the whole night praying to God on a mountain. Now think about it:  do you really suppose Jesus was talking all night to God?  Wouldn’t he run out of things to say in an hour or so without repeating himself?  So what did he do all night?  What if he just sat still and recharged with God’s comfort and peace.  What if he heard from his Daddy, who said, “Relax.  Be still.”  What if Jesus went to sleep while being still?  That’s what I do if I’m exhausted. Have you ever been praying in bed at night and went to sleep in the middle of it?  Do you think God was offended?  What if God was hearing your words, then gave you what you really needed:  sleep.  Can you pray while you’re asleep?  I don’t know, but if I’m praying in bed and fall asleep during it, I might still be praying in my dreams.  Does that count as prayer?  Well, if God gave you the peace to fall asleep while talking with Him or Her, I believe it does. Is intentionally listening expecting nothing in the pre-dawn prayer for me?  Without words?  Without perhaps even thinking about prayer?  For me it is, for I am sitting alone with God, and She might not be talking, either.  He might just be giving me peace, which is one heckuva way to start my day. If you think you don’t know how to pray because you don’t know what to say, try this way of “not talking” with God.  Works for me. __________________________________________________________________ Joy Wilson is the author of Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God and a contributor to Not Alone (both Civitas Press, 2011). She and her husband, Bud, are two life-long hippies.  They live in Bartlett, TN, with six cats, two dogs, and no TV.  She is part of an eclectic group of Jesus-followers called Outlaw Preachers and has a passion for prison ministry. Also, Joy is an advocate for middle-aged and senior women, and anyone who suffers from depression. Joy’s website is joyleewilson.org and you can contact her at joyleewilson@gmail.com