My husband reads several books at once. It has always amazed me. I read one thing at a time, but because of circumstances out of my control, I am now reading several books at once. The following are excerpts from a selection by Andre Louf: "Nobody can learn how to see. For seeing is something we can do by nature. So too with prayer. Authentic prayer can never be learnt from someone else. It has its own instructor within it. Prayer is God's gift to him who prays....So long as we ourselves were still intent on the Word of God in our heart, we had come no further than the prelude. There comes a moment when we yield up God's Word to the Spirit within us. Then it is that our heart gives birth to prayer. And then at last the Word of God has become truly ours...And then the Name of Jesus has become our name also...Having now been chewed over and assimilated, it is regenerated in the heart, to the praise of God. It has taken root in us and is now bearing its fruit: we in our turn utter the Word and send it back to God. We have become Word; we are prayer.....The Spirit stammers it out in our heart, without our doing anything about it. ...We are still in the world, and we dwell already with Jesus near the Father. We still live in the flesh, and the Spirit has made us wholly captive. For the veil has fallen from our heart, and with unveiled faces we reflect like mirrors the glory and brightness of Jesus, as we ourselves are being recreated in His image, from glory to glory, by His Sprit (2 Cor 3:18)." I enjoyed the way Louf spoke of growing in prayer. I read today a selection by Agnes Sanford on prayer. I'll share some of that tomorrow. I am also reading another Nouwen book, Return of the Prodigal Son, and it struck me in several ways. If only I had time to sit and mull over such things. Hopefully it will stay near the front of my brain as I trudge through the day today.