In this piece, we're following a stream of consciousness that, like any good journey, will end with prayer.
There's this...
A handful of artists--as opposed to a bevy of artists--have such distinctive styles that we recognize their imprint even in isolated swatches of their work: a riff from Eric Clapton's guitar; the transcendent prose from the Apostle John's stylus; dabs of paint from Claude Monet's brush; a clip from an Alfred Hitchcock feature film. The unique style of these and other men and women are easily distinguished from that of their peers.
And then there's this...
Alfred Hitchcock made extensive use of "storyboarding" in film production. Storyboarding--pioneered at Disney Studios in the 1930s--is a resourceful tool that allows writers, artists, and other members of the creative team to fill cards with words and pictures to represent scenes as they plot the story. Entire studio walls might be used as a "canvas" for the cards. The cards can be moved about or removed entirely; additional cards may be added as the story evolves. Legend says that Hitchcock's storyboards were so fully developed and rich in detail that he actually found the subsequent filming to be monotonous.
And, finally, there's this...
For many of us, prayer is preparation for battle--whatever those battles may look like--even as storyboarding for most is the preparation for the hard work of filming. For Jesus, however, prayer was the battle--even as storyboarding for Hitchcock was the hard work. Tim Allen Gardner, author of The Naked Soul: God's Amazing, Everyday Solution to Loneliness, recalls a seminary address by Haddon Robinson. Mr. Robinson surmised, "If you had seen Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, you would have thought, 'If He is agonizing like this now, when He is simply in prayer by Himself, what's He going to be like when the real test comes in Jerusalem? What will happen to Him when He faces the questions of Pilate and Herod? What will He do when confronted with death?'"
Gardner added, "You might have even wondered why He couldn't be more like His sleeping friends, who did not, at first, seem as worried as He was. But wait. When the test actually came, when He stood before the crowd who cried out, 'Crucify Him!' it was Jesus who went to the cross in victory, and it was His sleeping friends who fell away and ran away...[As] Jesus arises from His agonizing prayer, His face is no longer in pain but rather shows an aura of triumphant victory...the battle was over."
What distinctive imprint might people recognize in you that uniquely reflects who you are and what you do?
What outcomes might storyboarding and Jesus' use of prayer share in common?
The first of the seven Habits of Holiness is Moral Excellence--a decision: determine to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or consequences. How might following Jesus' example of prayer create a space to develop Moral Excellence?
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