I Samuel

 “Hannah was deeply distressed
and prayed to the Lord,
and wept bitterly.”  – 1 Samuel 1:10

When I lived in Israel I loved to go to the Western Wall,
an ancient limestone wall
remnant of the second temple,
a place of prayer and pilgrimage for Jewish people.

I’d sit in the women’s section.
Around me Jewish women
with brightly coloured head scarves
stood swaying
to the rhythm of their
solitary
whispered prayers.

But before them,
there was Hannah.

I always remembered Hannah,
always faithful in prayer.

For years
and years
Hannah was mother of no-child.
This meant pain; pain etched deep.
In her culture, infertility was a women’s fault
a sign of God’s disfavour,
a source of shame,
a slow internal dying of an envisioned future,
a well of grief and tears.

And every year
their religious pilgrimage took them to Shiloh,
where the Tent of Meeting,
the Tabernacle is set up,
the dwelling place of God.
And Hannah prayed,
the prayer of her heart.

I can see her in my mind.
under the eye of Eli,
High Priest of Shiloh
swaying
to the rhythm of her
solitary
whispered
prayer of the heart.

And Hannah came
year after year
staying faithful to her deepest desire
and a time of fruitfulness came.

Our deepest prayers
our whispered
solitary
prayers
come from the heart
and, somehow,
God’s love abides.

Is there a special place where you make the intimate prayers of your heart? It might be a geographical place of pilgrimage, a spot in your home, a place outdoors, a posture your body takes, a silence that beckons.

 In what ways have you experienced a Love that stays with you even when it feels easier to give up?

 Find a creative way to represent the “solitary, whispered prayer” of your heart. You might write a prayer of gratitude or doodle a circle and fill it with words or colours that honours the honesty of  your prayer.