Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeAdvent DevotionalSabbath Keeping FastingA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationPrayers of the New TestamentPrayers of the Old TestamentPersonality Type in CongregationsSabbathA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelDeath in Dunedin: A NovelBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeFriending

Praying about the flow of time: The equinox

Lynne Baab • Tuesday March 18 2025

Praying about the flow of time: The equinox

Imagine you are in the wilderness with no pen, pencil, paper, or electronic devices. In this imaginary scenario, you have plenty of food, so don’t worry about that. You’re in the wilderness for a very long time. Months and years flow by. How would you mark the passage of time? Maybe you would use a rock to scratch a line on a stick each day.

As time passes, you would be increasingly aware of nature’s way of marking time. You would see the moon change from a sliver to half to full and then back again. You would notice that the rising...

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Praying about the flow of time: The Season of Creation

Lynne Baab • Tuesday September 17 2024

Praying about the flow of time: The Season of Creation

Sturdy, spreading oak trees. Tall evergreens. Lacy Japanese maples with hints of red and orange. Drooping flowering cherries. Spiky palms. Hillsides covered with deep green trees. An individual tree in winter, bare branches dusted with snow.

Creator God, we praise you for trees. We remember moments when trees have lifted our hearts. We also think of wood studs and joists that provide form for our dwellings, and we thank you for the beauty and utility of trees.

Oil slicks on puddles, and oil leaks into rivers and lakes. The residue left by car tires, washed by rain into streams and rivers, damaging salmon...

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Draw near: Praying for the ability to listen to unexpected voices

Lynne Baab • Tuesday March 21 2023

Draw near: Praying for the ability to listen to unexpected voices

My mother has a green thumb, and her home and garden are full of thriving plants. When she shows me a new plant, she’ll often say, “This plant is happy here,” meaning that the plant is thriving in the western sunlight of this particular window or the more diffuse light in the living room. Her plants tell her where they like to be.

I’ve read about sculptors who say that the stone tells them what it wants to be. In an article about her spring quilt, Avis Collins Robinson said, "I let the fabric’s colors and textures tell me how they want...

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Draw near: Be the Gardener of my soul

Lynne Baab • Tuesday June 21 2022

Draw near: Be the Gardener of my soul

“Spirit of the Living God, be the Gardener of my soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still—experiencing a winter of the soul. But now in the strong name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:

     Clear away the dead growth of the past,      Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,      Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,      Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,      Cultivate and water and tend my heart,      Until new life buds and opens and flowers. Amen.”           —Richard Foster, Prayers from the Heart

Richard Foster’s prayer draws on so many...

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Featured books

Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Lynne draws on her Ph.D. studies in communication to bring insight about listening and empathy so that we can pray more deeply. Each of the 28 short chapters is illustrated with a beautiful watercolor by Dave Baab. Buy online » Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional Lynne has chosen one psalm for each day of Lent and offers brief reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in a group. Illustrated with more than 50 of Dave Baab's beautiful watercolors. Buy online »

Featured articles

Meeting God in Grief and Gratitude

Lynne Baab • Wednesday January 22 2025

By Lynne M. Baab, author of Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life

Nurturing a contemplative stance for navigating challenging times

Lynne Baab • Friday August 11 2023

By Lynne M. Baab

Yes, Jesus Told Us to Pray in Secret. But He Also Prayed with His Friends.

Lynne Baab • Saturday October 9 2021

By Lynne M. Baab. Originally published in Christianity Today, July 8, 2021