The Art of Spiritual Practice

In response to last week’s article on being thankful even for the difficulties in life, one of our Joy members, Keith Oistad, wrote back,

“I have learned (and am still learning) to thank God in all circumstances. A bunch of years ago I was listening to Garrison Keeler on Prairie Home Companion. One of the stories he told was about a farmer who was going on a road trip he really didn’t want to go on. The trip involved getting up at 04:00. The farmer was saying his nightly prayers and he said, ‘I want to thank you God right now for the morning trip because I know I’m not going to be thankful when the alarm goes off.’ “

Keith went on to say “I have thought of that silly story several times over the years (the past 10+ in particular) because the discipline to give thanks in all circumstances was in the farmer’s mind. If I give God thanks for everything I can think of going on in my life, then I know God will help me. God is going to help me anyway; however, I enjoy the help more when I do get the help. Often, it’s not exactly what I thought I should get, but I do get help. And then my mind is opened up to even more blessings bestowed on me.”

“I learned about the Gratitude Attitude about twenty years ago, and I have tried to live in that vein. I rarely have a bad mood day, and now if I do, I recognize my deterioration and know I need to talk with God and start my day over.”

Thanks, Keith, for sharing your own art of spiritual practice. Our stories encourage and inspire others as we all “walk each other home.” 

Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live