I finished up another trip through Richard Foster’s book, Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer. What a refreshing read!

The reminders at the end of his book are well worth repeating and soaking in.

The transforming work of prayer (and meditative prayer in this case) doesn’t happen all at once. It may not ever be complete. But transformation does happen. The old ways of manipulation (yes, in prayer) and control lose their appeal. New compassion arises.

We are becoming friends with Jesus. (John 15:14)

Foster then relates the story of when he was trying to write the book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. (One of my favorite books.) He was doing the research and soaking in hundreds of books and finding himself frustrated. So much intake and not enough output! How could he get all this into one book?

He about gave up.

And God met him. The only way he could describe it is this: “What I saw was the heart of God, and the heart of God was an open wound of love.”

Then, the Lord spoke to him: “I do not want you to abandon this project. Instead, tell my people, tell my children, that my heart is broken. Their distance and their preoccupation wound me. Tell them. Tell my children to come home.”

I can’t read those words without tears. I certainly can’t type them without tears.

Foster finishes with this: ” We have been in a far country. It has been a country of climb and push and shove. It has been a country of noise and hurry and crowds. And God is welcoming us home — home to peace and serenity and joy.”