When Work Takes Over Your Existence

Haven't worked this many hours since, hmm, it has been about 5 years I think.  78.5 hours last week.  Several nights I didn't get home from work until after 4 a.m.  This week is better.  Got home tonight around 11:30 p.m.

We are doing a proof of technology project and we are in the final week of testing.  That means probably very little to anyone outside of the IT industry, so better get this back to what the Holy Spirit has been teaching me.

Crazy thing is I am enjoying the work except for the politics.  One part of the client company wants the technology to fail, and the other part wants it to succeed so the results of our labors are challenged not unlike what you see on the news shows regarding the Presidential race.  Today I was happy I made it past 2 p.m. without taking a couple laps around the pond to get out the stress from having to talk tactfully when I want, you know, to verbally crush someone.

When I am going around the pond, which is becoming a joke where I work, I am saying the Jesus Prayer.    I do almost a half lap with "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."  But then I switch it up a bit.  I replace 'me' with my family members', friends, and co-workers' names.  While mentioning one person's name I noticed that I had a great desire for the person to be converted.  I seemed to feel the love Jesus has for this person and how much he longs for him to respond to his mercy.  We'll see, and I'll continue to pray.  There is really no reason to work this hard unless there is something great that comes out of it for the Lord's glory!  The guy is a Hindu father of 2, so I will be very much glorifying God if this happens.

The reason it is a joke at work is i can't make it past 2 p.m. without needing to go for a couple laps.  I get so angry suppressing my frustration, fielding the obstructionists' many questions, as we review the fourth revision to the 32 page deliverable, that I have to go for a walk so I can think straight for the remainder of the 12+ hour day.  One of my co-workers said she saw me out the window when she was in another meeting and she just started laughing, knowing I must have gotten ticked-off again.  We've also been joking that we need to factor in the therapist fees and anger management course costs into the amendment to the statement of work.

What the Lord taught me today was the helpful intersection between Buddhist philosophy and the teachings of Christ.  Sometimes I joke that I would make a terrible Buddhist as they teach "mindfulness" where you notice everything but do not make a judgement as to whether it is good or bad.  I have analytic bent so I make continuous assessments of the good or bad of just about everything.

Here are the helpful intersections:

• Buddhists teach origin of suffering is attachment.  The reason for suffering is desire, passion, striving for fame and popularity.  In short:  CLINGING AND CRAVING.  We Christians are taught similarly that we are to have singleness of heart, to seek first the Kingdom; that our God is a jealous God and we are not to have anything in our hearts that has a higher place than him, and we are to surrender all attachments, laying them at his feet.
• Buddhist teach the idea of self is a delusion, because there is no abiding self.  It goes a bit off the tracks when they talk about "becoming part of the universe", reincarnation, etc.;  We Christians are taught:
  
  "My old self has been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." (St. Paul, Galatians 2:20)
  
  "Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left . . . . " (Lorica of St. Patrick)
  
  "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (Jesus in John 12:25)
  
  "If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." (Jesus in John 15:6)

• Buddhists teach cessation of suffering is attainable by attaining dispassion, and following a middle way between the extremes of excessive self-indulgence and excessive self-mortification.  This reads very similar to many saints who teach that self-mortification leads to controlling the passions and the self-indulgence behind them.
• The last helpful intersection I was able to get to today was the first part of the Buddhist's Noble Eightfold Path, "Right View".  It means in Buddhism to recognize the four noble truths as Right View yields right thoughts and right actions.  This led me to rapid succession of scriptures on what our right view is in Christianity, and in fact what is the absolute truth and right view for everyone as revealed by Jesus Christ the Son of God:
  
  "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
  
  "I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
  
  "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." (John 15:16)
  
  "He (the Father) cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be more fruitful." (John 15:2)
  
  "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 7:19)
  
  "If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers, such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (yes that was the 2nd time for this verse)."  (John 15:6)
  
  "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God.  Sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.  Otherwise, you also will be cut off." (Romans 11:22)
  
  "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance." (Romans 2:4)

The more intense my life is, the more I turn to the Lord and depend on him.  Last Thursday I stopped into church on the way into work, because I think my team and I desperately needed me to go before the Lord and ask for his blessing and favor on our efforts and on us.  

I am not a calm, dispassionate person, so I am driven to take a walk alone with my God, pleading for his mercy, confident that my strength and any semblance of self-control comes from him.  I have had two awesome 12 hour plus saving ideas come from these quick little exercise/prayer breaks that I know I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

I am also being challenged that in all circumstances, adverse or pleasant, I need to remain in Jesus or I can do nothing.  If I remain in him, I will bear fruit.  If I continue in his kindness I might have the patience to not become a dead branch that is thrown away and withers.  Anyway I believe that is the "Right View".

God has been blessing me like crazy, answering my prayers and the prayers of my friends.  My husband has been wonderful lately.  We have been getting along so much better.  We are laughing more, managing through the summer/fall sport practice schedules, school book orders, and school medical forms along with his physical therapy (from his shoulder injury) and around my crazy work hours the past few weeks . . . .without argument.  God's kindness and grace are apparent.

Hope you are enjoying this last blessed month of summer, my favorite time of year, and that you are being taught much by the Holy Spirit too!

Unceasing Prayer - The Jesus Prayer

Pray without ceasing. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17 

The most normal form of unceasing prayer in the Eastern rite and Orthodox tradition is the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer is the form of invocation used by those practicing mental prayer, also called the "prayer of the heart." The words of the prayer most usually said are 

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

This is truly a powerful prayer and has very much helped me to reconnect to my Lord and Savior throughout the day.  I was actually taught the prayer by a Roman Catholic priest at the end of a confession.  Now I am attending a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church and I am teaching it to the 1st and 2nd grade students each year in the Religion School.

Many of you are familiar with this prayer, whereas maybe some of you are hearing about it for the first time. 

If you have been praying this prayer would you leave a comment on why you pray this prayer and what it has meant to you?  

As my readership is quite low at this point, you may also want to subscribe to the comments because maybe some will come in weeks or months from now.

There are days that pass when I forget to pray this, but I don't think a week has gone by when I haven't prayed this.  Normally I pray it many times throughout the day.  There are monks that pray it hundreds of times throughout the day using prayer ropes!  

• It helps me focus my awareness on Jesus dwelling within me
• It fosters my proper place before God, humble sinner, dependent completely on his mercy
• I believe it protects me, I am calling to my Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God; the demons in New Testament would call him Son of God, but not Lord!
• Many times it gives me that peaceful, slight chill in the back of my head and neck reminding me--God is with me!
• When I am praying earnestly for someone, after I pray initially, I can continue to pray this prayer by inserting their name, and the names of those involved with their situation in place of "me" in the prayer.  It helps me to keep praying for them while I go about other things.

Where do I pray this:

• In my car driving
• At work:  at my desk, in meetings, in the stairwell, etc.
• At home
• In church if I feel distracted
• While working out--running, biking, swimming, etc.
• Anywhere else I remember, or the Holy Spirit prompts me

Theological and Spiritual Meaning of the Jesus Prayer

The choice of this particular verse has a theological and spiritual meaning.

First of all, it is centered on the name of Jesus because this is the name of Him whom "God has highly exalted," the name given to the Lord by God Himself (Luke 1:31), the "name which is above every name." (Philippians 2:9-10, cf Ephesians 1:21)

...for there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

All prayer for Christians must be performed in the name of Jesus: "if you ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14) 

The fact that the prayer is addressed to Jesus as Lord and Christ and Son of God is because this is the center of the entire faith revealed by God in the Spirit.

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 

Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." 
And Jesus answered, "Blessed are you...for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven...and on this rock I will build my Church..." (Matthew 16:16-18)

That Jesus is the Christ, and that the Christ is Lord is the essence of the Christian faith and the foundation of the Christian church. To believe and proclaim this is granted by the Holy Spirit.

...no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:3) 

... every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:11)

In calling Jesus the Son of God is to acknowledge God as His Father. To do this is, at the same time, to have God as one's own Father, and this too is granted by the indwelling Spirit.

And when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:4-6) 

When we cry "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God ... (Romans 8:15-16)

Thus, to pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God" is already to be a child of God, and already to be certain that the Holy Spirit is in you. In this way, the Jesus Prayer brings the Spirit of God into the heart of man. 

"Have mercy on me a sinner" is the publican's prayer. When uttered with humble conviction it brings divine justification. (cf. Luke 18:9-14) 

Generally speaking, divine mercy is what man needs most of all. It is for this reason that the numberless repetition of the request for the Lord's mercy is found everywhere in the prayers of, the Church. 

And finally, all men are sinners. To know this is a fact, and to confess it with faith is to be justified and forgiven by God. (cf. Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3)
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If you are interested in learning more after you read this, there are so many different sites that come up on quick Google. Unfortunately I can't find the one that provided the following information that I use with my 1st, 2nd graders and give on a handout to their parents.  I'll have to do better job keeping my references going forward!