“Barricade the road that goes nowhere. Grace me with your revelation”
Psalm 119: 29 (The message)
My heart is heavy for our world. We officially just passed 500,000 people who have lost their lives to COVID 19. The political landscape is full of minefields and no matter where our conversations traverse there are explosions going off everywhere. We are being schooled in the art of truly listening to another experience and story, there is also a sadness that pervades cafe conversations.
We’ve all been down those dead-end street conversations. The ones where there is no right answer. Each side has their barricades up and the pain is palpable. These are the roads that lead to nowhere. Conversations laced with sarcasm and emotions overflowing. Those seasons also where we have tried to go off on our own and ended up on a track towards isolation and destruction.
This psalm goes on to tell me;
“I choose the true road to Somewhere, I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me; God, don’t let me down!
I’ll run the course you lay out for me if you’ll just show me how.”
Psalm 119: 29-33
The stories we each tell and the sense we try to make of them, hold us contained in a holding pattern of conversation. We believe that we are communicating effectively but we end up feeling barricaded by roads that lead to nowhere.
Roads of old stories.
Roads of assumption.
Roads of pain and mistrust.
Those circles that dig us into patterns of destruction. Dead-end streets. The same old narrative that entraps us in its snare. Prayer is this place of guided meditation, that allows us to groove a new way forward. Even when we find ourselves repeating the same old patterns of communication over and over.
This is the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. This is the place where we grow in the midst of challenge, conflict and difficulty. I created this downloadable screen saver to help you lean towards the fluidity of new ways of thinking and reacting for growth and discovery.
Prayer helps us to lean towards fluency of understanding. Where we can release a fixed mindset and creatively co-create a new mindset with God. Rather than going down those dead-end streets, those places that lead to nowhere, allowing ourselves to grow, discover and change the narrative of those old conversations.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.“
Hebrews 4 : 16 (NIV)
God, barricade those places from me.
Help me to lean deep into your revelation.
Help me to discover your way above all else.
Question for discussion in comments below;
Where are you getting stuck in conversations that lead to nowhere?
