No, I am not talking about Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.
I’ve learned a new Hebrew practice on my pilgrimage with Jesus this summer. Well actually it is an ancient Jewish practice it is just new to me. It’s the practice of “Kavannah,” and it is a deep intentional prayer.
Too often in my life I have found myself wandering as I talked with God. “Now where was I going with this prayer” type of conversation with the Creator of the Universe. And that’s just wrong. It’s kind of like getting on an airplane just so you can ride around the country. No, when you get on an airplane you have a set destination. You are intentional about where you are going. You bought a specific plane ticket for that specific destination for heaven’s sake. That’s how I want to be with my prayer life. I want to be totally in it. My bedtime prayers became, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” Any longer and I might nod off. That was how I was communing with the King of the Universe. Until I came to the powerful practice of “Kavannah.”
It is explained as aiming my heart at God. A Jewish sage explained it like this, “Prayer without kavannah is like a body without a soul.”
I went to the shooting range with my husband a few weeks ago. He sent my target out maybe 15 feet. It was dreadful. He calls misses a mike. He calls bullseyes alphas. My mikes didn’t even qualify for a mike. At one point there wasn’t even a bullet hole on my target paper. It was very disheartening. I learned something valuable that day. If my heart is not in an activity then I will fail miserably. My husband’s heart is totally in this quest. His alpha’s can’t even be tracked because his next shots blow the target to smithereens. His heart is aimed at hitting his target.
It is all about the direction of our hearts. In prayer kavannah is a personal emotional mindfulness aimed at My God and King. I had allowed my prayer life to become rote ritual instead of a life giving and life changing connection to God. And that is exactly what prayer should be, a time to connect with God.
Kavannah prayer brings passion and personal meaning into my communion with God. And I love that thought, for that is what prayer truly is, a time of communion with My Creator. It is common union with the One who made me and knows me better that I know myself.
I learned something new today Kavannah, loved it!