{"id":296665,"date":"2019-03-20T12:47:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T16:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=296665"},"modified":"2019-03-20T12:47:58","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T16:47:58","slug":"its-here-the-busy-persons-guide-to-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/03\/its-here-the-busy-persons-guide-to-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Here: ‘The Busy Person’s Guide to Prayer’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Want to kickstart your Lent? Boost your prayer life? Support your local blogging deacon?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pleased and humbled to announce that the good people at Word Among Us<\/strong> have just published my new book, \u201cThe Busy Person\u2019s Guide to Prayer.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the introduction:<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s face it: in a world where soccer practice, work, the gym, PTA meetings, school projects, Twitter, and Netflix dominate our lives, it can be challenging and seemingly impossible to find time to pray. There are deadlines to meet, bills to pay, babies to diaper, reports to file, gardens to weed, emails to answer, groceries to buy. And praying? Talking to God? Amid the stresses and strains of daily life, many of us take God\u2019s name in vain, if we mention him at all.<\/p>\n

We want to pray, but who has the time?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Well . . . you. You do. Yes, you. The busy person who can\u2019t find your keys or this week\u2019s grocery list can, in fact, find time to pray. It is not impossible. If you\u2019re reading this right now, you want to know how you can do what you feel called to do, what you want to do, but that you somehow can\u2019t find the opportunity to do: pray. To offer up a good word to our good God. To stay connected to the Creator in a way that is fruitful and intimate and will nourish the soul\u2014and just maybe do some good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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How can I do that? you\u2019re wondering.\u00a0Glad you asked.<\/p>\n

This little book is intended to offer a plan of action\u2014a way to pray when you feel you just can\u2019t. (Yes, you can. Really.)<\/p>\n

Building a steady and fulfilling prayer life can be done, even if you think it can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But be forewarned: I offer here no magic formulas, no easy solutions. This isn\u2019t like one of those diets where you can \u201csleep\u201d the pounds away. You will have to do some work. But as St. Ben- edict put it when he wrote his famous Rule, I\u2019m hoping this won\u2019t be \u201charsh or burdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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To that end, I\u2019ll be providing helpful handrails along the way to guide us on this journey. Each chapter concludes with some thoughts on prayer from people you know by faith (saints and popes, for example) and people you may not know\u2014friends and acquaintances of mine who offer\u00a0their own words of wisdom on\u00a0the subject of prayer. I\u2019ve also\u00a0included some action items\u00a0to get your prayer muscles in shape, and a brief\u00a0prayer of my own to help\u00a0put into words what we\u00a0are trying to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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I don\u2019t intend to ladle out heavy theology or philosophy; I\u2019m not going to be quoting exhaustively from encyclicals or treatises; I won\u2019t be dissecting the mind of Aquinas. That\u2019s not me. I\u2019m just a writer, journalist, blogger, storyteller, preacher, husband, and deacon.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m a busy person who is still trying to make time to pray. It isn\u2019t easy. Believe me, I know.<\/p>\n

But this book, I hope, will offer some ideas on how to get started. The best prayer is an act of boundless surrender and joy, communicating with God in a way that is unique, intimate, and utterly honest. It is an act of love. And at its root, it really should be deceptively, almost shockingly, simple.<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll find this to be a helpful handbook that will encourage more prayer\u2014a paperback stepping-stone that will, as a famous prayer to the Holy Spirit puts it, \u201cEnkindle . . . the fire of God\u2019s love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ready to strike a match and start the flame?<\/p>\n

Then let us pray.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is very much a labor of love for me, and one I hope will give reassurance and practical advice to all of us who want to pray but can\u2019t seem to find the time to do it.<\/p>\n

You can find \u201cThe Busy Person\u2019s Guide to Prayer\u201d (n.b.: on discount right now!) at the Word Among Us online bookstore<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(where you can also read an excerpt).<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, it will also be in stock at Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0 (Or, just scroll down my sidebar on the right, and you\u2019ll find a link there.)\u00a0 You can also purchase it through the Barnes & Noble website.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

And: if you\u2019re attending this year\u2019s\u00a0LA Religious Education Congress<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0drop by the Word Among Us<\/strong> booth. I\u2019m told they\u2019ll have it available there, too!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to kickstart your Lent? Boost your prayer life? Support your local blogging deacon? I\u2019m pleased and humbled to announce that the good people at Word Among Us have just published my new book, \u201cThe Busy Person\u2019s Guide to Prayer.\u201d\u00a0 From the introduction: Let\u2019s face it: in a world where soccer practice, work, the gym, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":296668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-my-world-and-welcome-to-it"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's Here: 'The Busy Person's Guide to Prayer'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to kickstart your Lent? Boost your prayer life? Support your local blogging deacon? 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