The Jesus Prayer

I don’t write about spiritual things very often here, but I think this is a good time. Frankly, life has been a little overwhelming lately. We have our hands full with a new baby and a new puppy (not a recommended combo, but they’re both great), and keeping up with those two while trying to juggle the other areas of our lives has been a bit nuts. Today I was inspired by a blog post my amazing sister-in-law wrote (and have seen about 3 other similar themes in other unrelated blogs I visit), and reminded that I don’t need to just blindly accept all the overwhelming things that I come across (and get overwhelmed and paralyzed by them). I have tools!

My favorite is the Jesus Prayer, a simple, ancient prayer just one sentence long that pretty much encompasses all of the theology I’ll ever need, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Repeating this over and over has an amazing calming, healing effect on me, and I wish I would do it more – not just during Lent or when I’m overwhelmed, but a constant internal repetition – the prayer of the heart.