Podcast
On Being with Krista Tippett
The speaker found the Desert Fathers and Mothers to be a helpful resource in dealing with a personal problem, specifically anxiety and insecurity in her marriage. She used a book containing a pattern of prayer similar to those of the early church as a means to address these issues.
I had discovered the obbys and omnis of the ancient Egyptian Desert back in graduate school, and had found them a wonderful antidote to the academic ethos that I was having to write my dissertation
— Episode: [Unedited] Roberta Bondi with Krista Tip...
Episode: [Unedited] Roberta Bondi with Krista Tippett
The speaker found the Desert Fathers and Mothers to be a helpful resource in dealing with a personal problem, specifically anxiety and insecurity in her marriage. She used a book containing a pattern of prayer similar to those of the early church as a means to address these issues.
I had discovered the obbys and omnis of the ancient Egyptian Desert back in graduate school, and had found them a wonderful antidote to the academic ethos that I was having to write my dissertation
And one Saturday when it was just unbearable and it was about three o'clock in the afternoon which was about two hours later than Richard had said he would be home, I was sitting there on the couch and ringing my hands in anguish with the dry mouth and stomach ache and all of a sudden the obbas from the agent doesn't start saying to me, Robert, we have something to say to you and I said shut up and leave me alone. I'm worried and they said, Oh no come on now come on listen I'm worrying leave me alone and finally I said, All right all right what do you have to say and they said to me well now you know that the main thing we're doing out here in the desert is prayer and you spent a lot of time studying us and working on us and you might consider whether this might be something for you and I said to them, Oh come on now look I am a rational reasonable woman and I'm an academic and this is what's your suggesting just is not really for me.
And the answer to that was, Oh, you might also consider as part of this that you have put Richard into the place of God for you.
So that's okay all right all right I'll try it I'll try it so I went that at that point I went out and got well first I let Richard come home and and yelled at him a little bit and then I went out and got a book that had a pattern of prayer and it was similar to what was used in the early church and that was what started me on my discipline of prayer.
And then when the timer goes off say thank you very much God that was very enjoyable and then go and do something else and that after a while that's a way of learning that God is a safe person to be with and you know maybe it takes six months maybe it takes two years maybe it takes ten years God's got plenty of time and we're not doing this because we're want to be good people or we're following a command but because we're made to long for God and it's for our own well being and happiness and so we find it for that reason not because we ought to.
Episode: [Unedited] Roberta Bondi with Krista Tippett
The speaker found the Desert Fathers and Mothers to be a helpful resource in dealing with a personal problem, describing them as free-spirited and speaking from the heart. They provided a space to live and function that she had not known before, and helped her to incorporate prayer into her daily life.
I had discovered the obbys and omnis of the ancient Egyptian Desert back in graduate school, and had found them a wonderful antidote to the academic ethos that I was having to write my dissertation
The Desert Fathers and Mothers were free spirited and spoke always from the depth of their hearts, to the depth of their disciples' hearts.
And one Saturday when it was just unbearable and it was about three o'clock in the afternoon which was about two hours later than Richard had said he would be home, I was sitting there on the couch and ringing my hands in anguish with the dry mouth and stomach ache and all of a sudden the obbas from the agent doesn't start saying to me, Robert, we have something to say to you and I said shut up and leave me alone. I'm worried and they said, Oh no come on now come on listen I'm worrying leave me alone and finally I said, All right all right what do you have to say and they said to me well now you know that the main thing we're doing out here in the desert is prayer and you spent a lot of time studying us and working on us and you might consider whether this might be something for you and I said to them, Oh come on now look I am a rational reasonable woman and I'm an academic and this is what's your suggesting just is not really for me.
Oh, you might also consider as part of this that you have put Richard into the place of God for you.
And then when the timer goes off say thank you very much God that was very enjoyable and then go and do something else and that after a while that's a way of learning that God is a safe person to be with and you know maybe it takes six months maybe it takes two years maybe it takes ten years God's got plenty of time and we're not doing this because we're want to be good people or we're following a command but because we're made to long for God and it's for our own well being and happiness and so we find it for that reason not because we ought to.