The Jesus Prayer

I've been doing a lot of hiking lately and clearing trails of blowdowns as I go. Small to medium-sized tree? Move it with your burly arms or axe the dickens out of it. Massive tree? Get out the chainsaw. Yeah, the one you've been carrying on your back (along with everything else) for the last 10 miles. Yesterday we were on a trail flooded in knee deep water for 5 hours, clearing blowdown after blowdown, and noting jobs too big for our three person crew. It was exhausting and so deeply gratifying and fun.

It feels inexpressably good to be on the trail in a beautiful place, doing the outward work of restoration even as it occurs inside. Sometimes my head gets filled up with anger, sadness, bitterness, or confusion about the more difficult events of the past 8 months of my life. I've been trying to recast those things in a more redemptive light as I ponder them, but the hurt is often too big for me to handle alone - so I've turned to Jesus in the form of an old, old prayer that people have been saying for centuries, beginning with the Desert Fathers of the fifth century.

My variation goes simply: "Lord Jesus Christ, having mercy on me." That's it. Over and over. And that kind of says it all. Jesus is Lord and the Christ. I need his mercy not only to heal my sin, but also to bring out the best in me. This goes along well with another prayer I've been saying most mornings: "Lord, help me remember the grace that you have given to me so that I can give it to others."

I feel the peace and purpose of God, and it is finally, increasingly well with my soul.