Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Peter Enns

Home
About
Books
Articles & Essays
Upcoming Events
Archives
Inspiration and Incarnation
- Book Summary
- Endorsements
- The Audience of I&I
- I&I and the Authority of Scripture
- NPR Interview
- I&I and Inerrancy
- Responding to Critics
- Interactions with Bruce Waltke
  - My response to the Introduction of Bruce Waltke’s surrejoinder to my response above.
  - Bruce Waltke’s Revisiting Inspiration and Incarnation.
- A Response to Richard Pratt
  - Pratt 2
  - Pratt 3
  - Pratt 4
  - Pratt 5
- I&I and Westminster Theological Seminary
  - I&I and the Westminster Confession of Faith
  - My Response from the Westminster Theological Journal (Spring 2009)
- Christianity Today Coverage
Science, Faith, and Inerrancy

Home
Evangelical
a story of questions, grace, and everyday prayer (interview with Micha Boyett)

a story of questions, grace, and everyday prayer (interview with Micha Boyett)

Last updated on: March 7, 2014 at 10:23 am by Peter Enns

a story of questions, grace, and everyday prayer (interview with Micha Boyett) 2014-03-07T10:23:59-04:00 Peter Enns

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today’s post is an interview with Micha Boyett, author of a spiritual memoir Found: A Story of Questions, Grace & Everyday Prayer, available now for pre-order and releases April 1. Micha (pronounced “MY-cah”) is a writer, blogger, and sometimes poet. A born and raised Texan, Micha lives in San Francisco with her husband, Chris, and their two sons. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and at at her blog Mama Monk at michaboyett.com.

Found is Micha’s candid account of her own rediscovery of prayer–and faith–through Benedictine spirituality, a large part of which involves claiming the parts of the day as times and places where one meets God in prayer.

My wife Sue read it first and loved it. When it was my turn, she felt like it might be over my head and suggested I stick to sports biographies. Not only do I just generally not “get” life, but Micha’s journey is deeply connected to her sense of self as a mother and wife. I am a “guy.”

I read the book anyway. I loved it, too, and I recommend this book for anyone tired of thinking of prayer as performance, faith as the crushing need for certainty, and God as sitting around waiting to grade our lives with a red pen.

And for those guys out there who may need help, just replace any references to children with “chain saw,” “tractor,” or “sports bar” and you’ll be fine.

****************

Most of the books we talk about around here deal with theological topics surrounding the Bible. But Found is creative nonfiction, a memoir of prayer. I know why I want people to read it (to help keep theology from residing solely in our heads), but tell us why you think people should read it?

The books that have most profoundly shaped my life have been stories. Humans are drawn to art and music and story because we don’t necessarily want to be told what to believe, we want to discover what we believe.

It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, not necessarily facts about God or rules about God. I really believe we’re more shaped by our stories of how we’ve experienced God, than we are by heady discussions about God.

It’s not that we don’t need theology. We absolutely do. And theology informs this book. It’s just there under the surface. Just like in a daily life of faith.

Do you see a theological framework in your book? You consider a lot of abstract ideas: the prayerful work of “paying attention,” gratefulness, wholeheartedness, etc. How does your theology hold those concepts up?

Over the past five years, during the time I was working on this book, I was greatly influenced by the notion of Narrative Theology: the Bible as a Story, God as the Great Narrator, and myself and the world around me as players in this beautiful, broken, always-being-redeemed story God is telling. That has deeply changed how I interact with scripture and how I see my life of faith.

These days I hold a lot less pressure for certainty and performance in faith. And letting go of those heavy burdens has allowed me to enter the life-long process of learning to live gratefully, to love God with my whole heart, and to love people. Love is the deep work of faith. And we’re all learning how to manifest it in our daily, ordinary lives.

What writers have influenced you on your journey?

I could list poets and fiction writers I love, but I’ll refrain and stick with memoir, since my book is memoir.

I was greatly influenced by two spiritual memoirs in my twenties that really opened up my eyes to the kind of writing I wanted to do: Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner and The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris. Before discovering those books in 2002, I was convinced that it was impossible to write about God without being trite and saccharine.

Those two books were beautiful and deep and void of sentimentality. They each told a story that brought me into God’s presence. Also it was The Cloister Walk that first introduced me to the Rule of St. Benedict, which is the thread that holds together my story in Found.

I have been most influenced by Mary Karr, who I had the privilege of studying with ten years ago in graduate school. I could read her memoir Lit everyday and still sigh out loud at the way she shapes a sentence. Her prose is gorgeous and powerful. And she speaks of God in a way that undoes me. I had Mary Karr’s voice in my head on repeat while I wrote this book.

As a memoir of your prayer life over the course of two years as it’s worked out in the midst of your life with young children, it seems Found is a sort of conversion story as well. It’s hard not to sense that with the title’s “lost to found” reference. Do you consider the journey of your story a sort of “second conversion”?

In many ways I do. Though I’d probably define it as a fifth or sixth or fiftieth conversion story in my life.

In the Evangelical circles of my upbringing, people didn’t often talk about conversion happening over and over throughout a believer’s life, but I have learned that in order to live a life of faith, I have to choose Jesus over and over, moment by moment.

Found isn’t a story of having strayed from my faith and then returning. It’s really a story of the daily choosing of faith, the growing up of faith. It’s also a story of learning to believe that it is always God who finds us.

In this book I set out to rediscover prayer, and what is revealed is my own inability to live up that task. I need to be rescued. I need to be discovered by God.

This is really the story of how motherhood illuminated the parts of me that were already broken, especially where my faith was concerned. So it’s not about my “returning to prayer.” It’s really more about my recognition that the journey of faith is always a crashing and rising again, being rescued over and over by a Great Rescuer.

In that sense, I’ve already been found, but I’ll be found again tomorrow. It’s continual. That’s the work of the Spirit.

I’ve noticed that in other places you describe yourself as “relearning prayer.” What do you mean by that?

I always came to prayer as if it were a task to accomplish, a commitment to live up to. I’m a Christian; therefore I pray. God is waiting for me to meet with him, and if I don’t, God will be unhappy. And, really, we can’t have a spiritual life without prayer, right?

So when I started to sense that prayer as I’d known it—before having children—had disappeared from my life, I felt a frantic need to recover it. I wanted to prove myself capable to living up to spiritual life I was supposed to own. There was a lot of baggage there for me, a fear that my life was disappointing to God.

The best thing I did was let myself throw all the old prayer rules out the window. I began to study monasticism, mostly because it felt like the furthest thing from the evangelical rules that had become constricting for my mind. I came to St. Benedict’s Rule in particular because it’s always easier for me to read a book than spend my time in quiet prayer.

So I read and read about prayer, and eventually found myself asking God to give me a new way to pray, without all the baggage of “prayer as performance” that I’d carried with me into motherhood.

And what does prayer look like for you now?

I still strive to have time in the morning for prayer. Some days that happens and some days it doesn’t. But what has changed most for me is that I don’t feel ruined when I haven’t started my day with prayer. I actually believe that God is here, right now, loving me. And because God is here, I can look up and notice. The noticing and turning that moment into gratitude have really rescued prayer for me. It’s so much more simple than I used to think it was.

So if my first prayer in the morning is a tiny thank you at 11 am, God is still honored and I am still being changed.

The notion of God’s grace is much broader than I will ever grasp. But my weaknesses are a window into God’s deep and abiding love. And I hope I will keep acknowledging those weaknesses and then walking through them into God’s sweet presence.

Benedictine spirituality

Previous Post

March 6, 2014

does the genealogy of Adam make Adam a real person (Lamoureux on genealogies part 5)

Next Post

March 9, 2014 North Korea and a reminder to western Christians

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "aha" moments "The Bible" on the History Channel 1 Corinthians 10:4 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 1 John 1 Peter 3:15 1 Timothy 5:19 1st Advent 2001 World Series 9/11 A Beka Books A Long Faithfulness A More Christlike God A Year of Biblical Womanhood A. J. Jacobs Abraham abuse of power academic freedom Acts 10 Adam Adam and biblical genealogies Addison Hodges Hart adjunct teaching adolescent sexual purity aesthetics age of the earth Al Groves Al Mohler Alan Millard Albert Einstein Alberta Alex Rodriguez Allah American Sniper Ana Greene Andrew Louth Andrew T. Lincoln Andrew Wilson Andy Gill anger animal suffering announcement Anthony le Donne Antony Flew apologetics Apostles of Reason Are You Waiting for "The One"? Aren Maeir atheism Augustine author interview Babylonian exile Back to Red Balaam son of Beor Barack Obama Barnes and Noble Bart Campolo Bart Ehrman baseball Becoming Divine Becoming Who You Are belief in God belligerence Benedictine spirituality Benefit of the Doubt Berry Friesen best of 2014 Bethlehem Between Heaven and Mirth BIble Bible and Ancient Near East Bible and diversity Bible and History Bible and imagination BIble and myth Bible and politics Bible and science Bible and social sciences Bible and women Bible as Story Bible Curriculum Bible difficulties Bible wars Biblica biblical archaeology biblical authority biblical canon biblical contradictions biblical criticism biblical genealogies biblical Greek biblical historiography biblical inspiration biblical interpretation biblical lifespans biblical literalism biblical prophecy biblical theology biblicism bibliogian Big History Project Bill Gates Bill Nye binding of Isaac BioLogos birth of Jesus blog commenting blog comments blogging Bob Jones University Press Bohannon fundraiser book proposals book publishing book reviews Born of a Virgin? Brad Jersak Branch Davidians Brandon Ambrosino Brandon Withrow Brene Brown Brevard Childs Brian McLaren Broken Word Bruce Glass Bryan College bunny theology BuzzFeed Byzantium C. H. Dodd C. John Collins C. S. Lewis Caesar Is Not Calvin and Hobbes Calvin College Calvinism camel domestication Canaan Canaanite genocide Canaanite religion Carl Sagan Carlos Bovell Carolyn Custis James Cedarville University certainty chain saws Changing Faith Charles Halton Charleston shooting Chasing Francis Chasing the Wind Chicago Cubs Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy Choon-Leong Seow Chris Christie Chris Keith Chris Tilling Christian America Christian apologetics Christian blogging Christian colleges Christian family Christian humanitarian efforts Christian leadership Christian liberty Christian Life Christian nation Christian persecution Christian Smith Christian Taliban Christian-Muslim dialogue Christianity and art Christianity and evolution Christianity and Islam Christianity and politics Christianity Today ChristianMingle.com Christians and academia Christians and sex Christmas Christopher B. Ansberry Christopher M. Hays Christopher Rollston Christopher Southgate Christopher W. Skinner Christotelic interpretation Chuck DeGroat Church Fathers and scripture circumcision co-dependence Coffeehouse Theology cognitive dissonance Community Bible Experience compost pile conquest of Canaan Consider No Evil contemplative Christianity control cosmos counter testimony Craig Blomberg creation creationism Creative Trust Literary Group creeds and confessions crisis in Syria crisis of faith crocs with socks crucifixion CT shootings culture wars cycle of life D. Brent Sandy Dan Harrington Dan Haseltine Daniel E. Fleming Daniel Kirk Daniel Taylor dark night Darwin David G. Benner David Koresh David Opderbeck David Williams Death Before The Fall defending the Bible defending the faith Denis Alexander Denis Lamoureux denominationalism depth psychology Derek Flood Derek Jeter desert fathers Dick Vitale Did God Really Command Genocide? Dietrich Bonhoeffer Disarming Scripture Discerning the Mystery Disturbing Divine Behavior diverse portraits of God divided monarchy Divine Vintage Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith? doctrinal inconsistency doctrine Documentary Hypothesis doubt dualistic thinking dying to self Early Church Easter Eastern Orthodoxy and the Bible Eastern University Eat With Joy Ecclesiastes Ed Cysewski election 2012 election 2016 empire criticism enlightenment Epic Fail Episcopal Church Eric Metaxas Eric Seibert Eucharist Evangelical biblical scholarship Evangelical Faith and the Challenge of Historical Criticism evangelical scholarship Evangelical Theological Society Evangelicalism evangelicals and academia evangelicals and politics everything breathes evolution evolutionary creation Evolving in Monkey Town Excalibur exchanging the peace Exodus exodus and conquest Exodus: Gods and Kings experiencing God Ezekiel 37 Ezra 9-10 faculty firings Fail faith and certainty faith and intellect Faith and Reason faith and theology faith seeking understanding false self FAQs FarmVille fear figurative readings first Christian Bible first half of life Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy food and religion ForeWord Reviews forgiveness Found Four Views on the Historical Adam Fox News Francis of Assisi Francis Schaeffer Frank A. James III Frank Viola Frederica Mathewes-Green From Evolution to Eden From Fear to Faith fundamentalism fundamentalism and art future of evangelicalism Fuz Rana G. I. Williamson Galatians game theory garden of eden Gary A. Anderson Gary Burnett Geerhardus Vos gene pool genealogies of Jesus Genesis Genesis 1-11 Genesis 1-2 Genesis 1-3 Genesis 15:6 Genesis flood Genesis for Normal People Genesis: History Fiction or Neither genetic studies genetics Gentiles George Washington Gerd Thiessen German language Gilbert Gottfried Göbekli Tepe Temple God God and country God and sports God in the Dock God in Translation God's absence God's gender God's sovereignty God's Word in Human Words good news/euangelion Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark GospelFutures GospelMemes Gospels granite Greg Cary Gregory A. Boyd Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nyssa growth Haggai Half the Church Hans-Georg Gadamer Harold Heie Harvie Conn Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Hebrew Patriarchs helicopter parenting helpful hints Henri Nouwen Hermann Gunkel hermeneutics high school reunion Hippasus of Metapontum historical accuracy historical criticism historical Jesus Holy War in the Bible homeschooling homosexuality honesty How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian Hugh Ross humility humor and spirituality I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution Ian Morgan Cron immortality incarnation inerrancy Inspiration and Incarnation intellectual models Intelligent Design inter-religious dialogue interracial marriage intolerance introverts in church Irenaeus irrational numbers Isaiah Isaiah 17 Israel Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israelite history J. R. Briggs J. R. Daniel Kirk Jacob L. Wright James A. Sanders James Barr James D. G. Dunn James Flynn James Hoffmeier James K. A. Smith James Martin Jana Riess Jared Byas Jars of Clay Jeannine Brown Jeremy Begbie Jesus Jesus and the Old Testament Jesus as divine and human Jesus as messiah Jesus Is Lord Jesus scholarship Jesus' wife Jewish biblical interpretation Jimmy Greene Job Job 1-21 jobs in academia Joe Modica Joel Baden Joel Butler John 10:35 John 20:19-29 john byron John Calvin John Dickson John Dominic Crossan John Franke John Goldingay John K. Stoner John of the Cross John Oswalt John Piper John Schneider John Walton John Wesley Jon Stewart Jon. D. Levenson Jonathan Dudley Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Fitzgerald Joseph and his brothers Joshua Delusion journey Judah judgement free zone justice and righteousness justification by faith Justin Martyr Karl Giberson Kashi Ken Ham Kent Sparks Kevin Vanhoozer Kim Jong Un Kindergarten King David King David and His Reign Revisited kingdom of God/heaven Konrad Schmid Kurt Eichenwald lament land of Israel Larry Hurtado Law of Moses leadership leaving church Leaving Egypt: Finding God in the Wilderness Places Legends of Genesis Leon Wieseltier Leonard Sweet Les Miserables Lesslie Newbigin letters from God literaliam literalism literary agents living in the questions Losing my Religion love love of God Love Wins Loveology Lucian Luke Norsworthy Luke Timothy Johnson Madonna and Child manners Marc Brettler Marcionism Margaret Kim Peterson Mariano Rivera Mark 2:23-27 Mark 3 Mark Noll Mark Roncace Mark S. Smith Mark Strauss Mark T. Edwards Martin Hengel Martin Luther Martin Luther King Marvin the Martian Mary Magdalene Matthew 18 Matthew Flannagan Megan DeFranza Menachem Wecker Mere Christianity Mesha Inscription messiah Messiah College Micha Boyett Michael Bird Michael Graves Michael Gungor Michael Halcomb Michael Hardin Michael Hidalgo Michael Moore Michael Pahl Michael Ruffin Michele Bachmann microbes midrash Miley Cyrus missiology Mitt Romney modernism Moises Silva Molly Worthen Monte Harrell Hampton Mora Downey morals and the arts Mother Teresa Mt. Hood my home office My Utmost for His Highest Myron Penner mythic membership consciousness N. T. Wright Nachmanides need for attention Neil degrasse Tyson Neil Williams neo-Calvinism new paradigms New Testament New Testament use of the Old Testament New Year New York Yankees Newsweek Newsworthy with Norsworthy Newtown Nicholas Wolterstorff no one likes Canada Noah (the movie) Noah and the flood Noah's ark NOMA Not Your Mother's Morals Obedience Old Testament Old Testament ethics Old Testament history Old Testament prophets Old Testament Theology Old Testament Turning Points Olive Branch Books online course Oprah Oral Tradition orality and the Bible oreos Origen original sin origins myths origins of the Old Testament Orthodox Presbyterian Church Oswald Chambers Owen Strachan pale blue dot Parker Palmer pastoral burnout Patterns of Evidence Paul Paul and the Faithfulness of God Paul Copan Peace Hill Press Pentateuch Pentecost Pete Enns Peter Drucker Peter Liethart Peter Rollins Peter Traben Haas Ph.D. job market Philippians 3:10 pilgrimage Planet Fitness politics postmodernism prayer Presbyterianism Priene Calendar Inscription problem of evil prodigal son professional Christian progressive evangelical theology Protestantism Proverbs Proverbs 26:4-5 Proverbs 26:7 Proverbs 26:9 Proverbs 31:10-31 Psalm 110 Psalm 82:6 Psalms psychotherapy public criticism Qumran Qur'an Rachel Held Evans Rachel Marie Stone Randal Rauser Randall Heskett Randy Hardman Raw Revelation Raymond B. Dillard Raymond E. Brown Reading Genesis 1-2 Reading John reading the Bible Really!?! rebuilding the temple reception history Red Letter Christians Reformation Reformed theology Rehabilitating Inerrancy in a Culture of Fear religion religion and popular culture religious hostility respectful conversation respectful conversations resurrection resurrection accounts resurrection in the Old Testament retributive violence Reuel/Jethro Reza Aslan Richard Hess Richard Rohr Rick Perry Ridley Scott Rite I rival eschatology Rob Bell Rob Dalrymple Robert Yarbrough Robin A. Parry Roman empire and the New Testament Romans Romans 1:18 Romans 9:25-26 Ronald E. Osborn Ryan Miller sabbath breaking Sacred Word Sacred Word Broken Word Samaritans Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Miller Sandy Hook Sarah Moslener Sarah Palin satan Saving the Original Sinner scepticism science and faith science curricula science education Scot McKnight Searching for Sunday self-absorbed self-centered seminary senate blocks gun legislation Septuagint Sermon on the Mount Seven Glorious Days shame shameless self-promotion Simon Schama sin singing size of universe slippery slope Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting Solomon Soren Kierkegaard source criticism Southern Baptist Theological Seminary southern Presbyterians Spinoza spiritual formation spiritual memoir spirituality Spirituality and the Awakening Self St. Benedict St. Nicholas Stephen Jay Gould Stephen L. Young Stephen Lawhead Stephen Taylor Steve Moyise Steven Collins Steven Pressfield Storm of Words story storytelling Strangers and Pilgrims Once More suffering Sumerian King List Super Bowl supernova Surrender to Love Sylvia Keesmaat T. Michael Law talking about God teaching Bible to young Christians Ted Bobosh Telling God's Story Teresa of Avila textual criticism Thanksgiving The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary The Beauty of God The BIble and the Believer The Bible Made Impossible The Bible Tells Me So The Biblical Cosmos The Book of Common Prayer The Books of the Bible The Byrds The Civil War The Courage to Teach The Discarded Image The Drew Marshall Show The Early History of God The End of Apologetics The Episcopal Church and science The Evangelicals You Don't Know The Evolution of Adam The Future of Evangelicalism The Godfather the gospel The Gospel According to the Blues The Gospel Coalition The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society The Groaning of Creation The Historical David The Historical Jesus The Inspiration and Interpretation of Scripture The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Anything The Jesus Driven Life The Jewish Study Bible The Last Battle The Liturgists Podcast The Lost World of Scripture The Old Testament: A Literary History The Oral Gospel Tradition the problem of Scripture The Prophetic Imagination The Rebel Jesus The Skeptical Believer The Story of the Jews The Twible The View The Violence of Scripture The War of Art The Wife of Jesus The Wonder of the Universe The Year of Living Biblically theistic evolution theological conflict theological diversity in the Bible theological interpretation theology Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Three-Legged Stool Thucydides Tim Keller Tim McCarver Todd Starnes Tom Krattenmaker Tony Campolo Toughest People to Love Toward the Other tradition transformation Tree of Life tree of the knowledge of good and evil Tremper Longman III tribalism trust in God Tullian Tchividjian Turn tweed in San Diego Unbelievable? Uncategorized uncertainty unfaithfulness of God Valentine's Day Victor Matthews violence of God Virgin Nation Walter Brueggemann Was the Birth of Jesus According to Scripture? water We Make the Road by Walking Wesleyan Quadrilateral western Christianity Westminster Theological Seminary What We Talk About When We Talk About God What? When God Spoke Greek William Dembski winemaking wisdom women and children as slaves women and the Bible women in ministry World Series worship wrath of God writer's block writing writing tips Yahweh young evangelicals young scholars and the internet Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth zero-sum game Zondervan Counterpoints Series Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary

Select a Month August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Jude?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Brother of Jesus Brother of Peter The apostle who replaced Judas The first martyred apostle