Imagination Prayer: Centering on Desire

November 12, 2017 ~ Prev | Intro | Next

During November we are focusing on imaging and cultivating our desire for God.

Have you ever felt such a strong longing for something that you could see, taste, or feel it even when it was well beyond your reach? Sometimes those cravings are for something seemingly trivial, but they often connect us to some powerful memory or experience. At this time of year, a yearning for your mom’s pumpkin pie may tie in to a nostalgia for family connection and the safety of childhood. The approaching months of holidays can be particularly bittersweet because of the mix of memories of love and the pain of loss.

Unlike desire for the past or for people, who can never live up to our expectations, our desire for God, properly directed, can be fulfilled. This week we will try to strip away peripheral desires and focus on our deepest longing for God.*

First, center yourself and thank God for your life: what it has been, is, and will be.

Next, state your deepest desire to God. Sit with it for a few minutes to see if the desire remains constant.

Once you have settled on your heart’s desire, make it as real as possible with all of your senses: vision, taste, touch, hearing, smell. Does it remain the same or change as you imagine it intensely?

Place your desire in God’s hands to fulfill or change if needed. What transformation does God make in your desire?

Ask God how you might participate in realizing your desire.

Thank God for being present with you in prayer and ask God to help you see opportunities to live into your desire.

Lord, make us what you want us to be.

Adapted from Teresa Blythe, 50 Ways to Pray