I've always wanted to write an article on snow shoveling and prayer. OK, not always, just since I moved to WI and started to try to find meaning in snow shoveling (there is certainly a lot of it to do).
Teresa of Avila has the classic analogy of prayer as going through stages similar to watering a garden. First, one begins by hauling the water from a nearby stream. Then a pump is put in and the water is pumped. Third, the garden is irragated and comes with little or no effort. Finally, rain pours down from above. Prayer works the same way. At first it takes a lot effort. After some time prayer rains down with no effort from the one praying.
Snow shoveling.... When we first moved to WI we just had a shovel. It was a lot of work to shovel just a little snow. Now we have a "snow scoop" which makes it a lot easier. It still takes effort, but not quite as much. Eventually, we may move on to a snowblower and eventually the sun will come out and melt the snow.
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