Skip to main content

Nobody likes listening to a worry wart.


For most of my life prayer has been an enigma.  Why pray when God already knows my thoughts and what I need or want?  What’s the point if He’s omniscient?  Seems superfluous and unnecessary, and I really don’t have space in my life for anything “extra” that’s using my precious energy. 

Lately I’ve been thinking (more than usual) about prayer, talking to a few people around me about their ideas, pushing myself to pray even when the concept doesn’t make total sense to me, and reading.  A few days ago the scripture for the day on my Bible App was James 1:5-8.  This scripture has been in my reading for a long time but it struck me in a different way this morning. 

I woke up this morning from another dream.  This dream was probably a mix of the peanut butter sandwich I had for dinner last night and a message from Heaven to get my head right as soon as I woke up.  The dream was not pleasant but it wasn’t terrifying either.  As I wrote out what I wanted to text to my cousin, who was a major portion of the dream, I remembered this scripture because much of what I was texting was a prayer, which is funny because I’m still learning a great deal about the concept and whole point of prayer.  I re-read the scripture, which helped me finish my message of love and hope to her, and then walked away with a clearer understanding of why it’s important I pray. (By no means am I a scholar on prayer now because I had a dream and read three verses, but my heart and head are little more settled, which is good for me.)

Prayer is more about me; my recognition of who is Lord of my life.  I believe that The Lord gives us the desires of our hearts, which to me means if there is a good desire in my heart then it came from The Lord.  I don’t think it means The Lord gives me whatever my heart tells my head it wants.  (That’s another topic for another day.) Prayer is about submission, communication, relationship.  Prayer is sometimes silent because there should always be a time inside a conversation when you are silent.  If you’re always the one talking in a conversation, you’re doing it wrong.  Stop. 

Most communication is nonverbal so there should be LOTS of “listening” (with your ears AND eyes) in a conversation.  For me, the same is true with prayer.  My mouth does not have to be moving for me to be praying.  My head does not have to be spinning for me to be praying.  My hands do not have to be typing for me to be praying.  Sometimes it’s just me in my big chair with a cup of coffee listening.  To be a good listener you have to be focused, single-minded, undistracted.  Concentrated listening is just as important, if not more so, than sharing your own thoughts, ideas, and hopes when you’re praying (or talking).  I hope I’m a better listener than talker.  Lord, please help me with “hearing” You so I can be sure to follow Your peace, and help me to be categorically absolute in my vision and purpose from You.

James 1:5-8 MSG (The Message Version) If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father.  He loves to help.  You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it.  Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought.  People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves.  Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

James 1:5-8 NKJ (New Kimber Jones Version) Don’t be a worry wart.  Say what you mean, mean what you say.  God is good and he’s hoping you’ll ask for His help. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twenty Twelve

The buzz word for 2012 seems to be order. A myriad of definitions come to mind when I think of the word “order”. Alphabetical order is the sequence of my student files at school, personal files at home, debit and membership cards in my wallet. When I place my order at a restaurant I expect to receive exactly what I ask for. That doesn’t mean that I will occasionally have the opportunity to suffer through whatever nonsense the “chef” or “barista” thought I should have instead of what I requested. When I was a little girl I would order my toys into different categories: large to small, large in the middle and tapering to small towards the ends, by shape, by color, etc. When we were kids, Cas and I created a game in the Dillard’s dressing room while mom would shop for eternities. We each had a quarter and there were other coins that we would divide up evenly. The object was to “flick” your quarter and hit your opponent’s larger coins first, then move on to the smaller ones. There...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sometimes late at night...

As is the case in most American homes, Saturday and Sunday are the most coveted days of the week. Saturday is generally when homeowners maintain their investments with cleaning or up-keeping chores, while Sunday is reserved for quality family time. As I’m writing this I realize just how “1950s” this actually sounds, and I wasn’t born until the ‘80s. Anymore there’s rarely a day or even an afternoon devoted to building relationships inside a family unit. Instead of mowing your own lawn on a Saturday morning people usually hire a lawn service to do this for them so a few extra hours of work can be squeezed into already overloaded work schedules. For me, the weekends are still my favorite. It’s when I get to share every breathing moment with the love of my life. Lately his work responsibilities take him away from me during the week. Call me silly (or if you are my sister you will just roll your eyes because you hate the word "silly"), but, nevertheless, I set a tim...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do ducks get lost too?

Being one to never turn down a challenge, I accepted the extension from B and then raised the ante on him. Of course, he fell off the wagon on the fourth or fifth day of Instagram's #photoadayaugust. I had initially chosen my own calendar of random shots to post, but the one he selected was a bit different. (and by a bit, I mean a whole lot) Thus enters the ante raise here: I'll do TWO. Brilliant, I know. I even remember the conversation I had with Mikey about how B thinks he is just so clever; I'll show him who's boss. After realizing B had quit the challenge, I spiraled toward the obvious - he had, once again, duped me. Agh! So infuriating. It's impossible to get the best of this guy, and I seriously don't know how A puts up with all his crap. ;)  Anyhow, a couple days ago I had to come up with a picture for ARROW. The night before I had to post it I was steamrolling through some ideas trying to be clever with it; nothing was coming to mind. I am irri...
Post a Comment
Read more