I really adore the author/psychoanalyst, Clarissa Pinkola Estes (C.P.E). I've been listening to her works (she is a talented story-teller as well, she uses stories to teach and records them) since I was 14 years old. She has a beautiful gift for sharing ideas and lessons through the spoken word and she is also an amazing poet.
This past weekend I was listening to one of her c.d's about intuition and the spiritual life. In it she spoke about her experience with working as one of the Trauma-Specialists immediately after the Columbine HS massacre (she is a local to the Denver area).
After the tragic event that took many student's lives and deeply affected countless others, a vigil was held at one of the churches near the school in Littleton, CO. Thousands upon thousands of people showed up--many of them students of Columbine. C.P.E gathered many of the students together in a group at the vigil and asked that one of them either read or say a prayer. She was astounded that these teenagers, many of them 17 & 18 years of age, had no idea how to pray. Not even a memorized prayer or two. Most of them did not even know how to prepare to pray---folding hands, arms, etc. and she had to demonstrate a few ways to do so. C.P.E. went on to mention how saddening it was that these near-adults were not given such a basic and important skill--how to pray.
This experience of C.P.E.'s really touched me. I paused and thought of how grateful I am that I know how to pray. Even though I may not continue to practice other religious rituals that I was taught growing up, I certainly still pray and hearing this story, I am even more full of thanks towards my parents for instilling in me this basic yet such vital gift---knowing how to speak to our Creator, God, Source without Source---our Father in Heaven.
I had to share this on my blog because I think we oftentimes forget how blessed we are for the way we were brought up. The little things, like prayer, make a big difference in our own lives and so many others. As Abraham Lincoln once said,
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
Thank goodness we have that option. And, speaking of prayer---click HERE to go to my post about prayer sites where you can request prayer.
