A Call To Prayer

A few years ago I spent three weeks in Tanzania. While there I got to know people from many different cultures including people from the remote villages, members of the Maasi tribe as well as people who where Muslim. On the first morning there I remember waking up at sunrise to the Muslim tradition of calling everyone to prayer. Chanting comes over the loudspeaker that reminds everyone in hearing distance that it is time to stop what they are doing and turn their attention to a power higher than themselves. This call goes out 5 times a day and is strictly adhered too.

I was aware of what it was because we had been told about it...but it was different being there and hearing it. The chanting was loud and clear in the still of the morning with the sun just coming up. I could imagine people waking up and their first thoughts were about prayer. It reminded me too that it was important to acknowledge God's spirit within me.

This was on my mind because I was recently reminded of this tradition by the friends I had traveled with. As it sat in my mind I wondered how my responses to the world would be different if I was reminded of God 5 times a day. What if the call to prayer came during a difficult conversation with someone? What if the call came when you were overwhelmed and fearful? What if you were fighting with someone? As I pose these questions I can't help but wonder if I would drop my defenses and come to love and forgiveness faster. I don't know for sure but it would change the perspective.

Every morning when I wake up before I do anything else I mediate and ask for Divine guidance to open my heart and to guide my words and actions in a way that is loving to all. But I am like everyone else sometimes with my best intentions, I fall short of how I want to be. The call to prayer is not part of our culture but I think the idea of it reminds all of us that God is guiding us at every moment even when things are hard. It is a wonderful assurance.
Blessings,
Sandy