There is always a reason to be on your knees
This week I have spoken with different relatives and friends, all with deep, troubling, prayer needs.
One had a heavy heart because someone they love is sick. Another is awaiting medical test results. Still another, is supporting an anguished, grieving friend. Then there are people who sense an employment layoff is about to happen, and still others, for whom they have yet to recover from a job loss of more than a year ago.
Meanwhile, as we reel from the horrors of hurricanes and earthquakes in the news, there is serious local flooding here in Massachusetts, and more threatened still with the predicted heavy rains forecasted for the next week.
Throw in a mother whose heartburn is stress-induced, and who is, hormonally, slightly out of kilter, minus a husband "missing in action" due to business travel, add in occasional bouts of teenager angst, (not to mention a young dog who is currently in a "steal and shred" phase,) and you have all the makings for a bad movie in my house. My mother told me there would be days like these -- but weeks? It makes one weak!
It all comes down to this: every day, there is always a reason to be on your knees. I truly believe that intercession, praying intentionally for others and ourselves, is a holy work.
And just when I think my bad-news-o-meter is reaching overload, when my overwhelming desire is to just be underwhelmed, something comes to my rescue. Some intangible form of encouragement surprises me with its restorative value. It's usually something I least expected, like the sun's appearance after a week of rain, or a cup of tea with a good friend, or a successful project that I complete that let's me say, "Good job, now, take a break!" In a word, somehow I feel the love of God break through... from nature, from others, even from within myself. Like its own answer to my heart's needs.
Just yesterday, I read Psalm 124:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers' snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
Thanks for the rescue, Lord! For when I am touched by your loving reminders of our relationship, I can persevere in prayer, and be freed for the work you give to me. Amen.
One had a heavy heart because someone they love is sick. Another is awaiting medical test results. Still another, is supporting an anguished, grieving friend. Then there are people who sense an employment layoff is about to happen, and still others, for whom they have yet to recover from a job loss of more than a year ago.
Meanwhile, as we reel from the horrors of hurricanes and earthquakes in the news, there is serious local flooding here in Massachusetts, and more threatened still with the predicted heavy rains forecasted for the next week.
Throw in a mother whose heartburn is stress-induced, and who is, hormonally, slightly out of kilter, minus a husband "missing in action" due to business travel, add in occasional bouts of teenager angst, (not to mention a young dog who is currently in a "steal and shred" phase,) and you have all the makings for a bad movie in my house. My mother told me there would be days like these -- but weeks? It makes one weak!
It all comes down to this: every day, there is always a reason to be on your knees. I truly believe that intercession, praying intentionally for others and ourselves, is a holy work.
And just when I think my bad-news-o-meter is reaching overload, when my overwhelming desire is to just be underwhelmed, something comes to my rescue. Some intangible form of encouragement surprises me with its restorative value. It's usually something I least expected, like the sun's appearance after a week of rain, or a cup of tea with a good friend, or a successful project that I complete that let's me say, "Good job, now, take a break!" In a word, somehow I feel the love of God break through... from nature, from others, even from within myself. Like its own answer to my heart's needs.
Just yesterday, I read Psalm 124:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers' snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
Thanks for the rescue, Lord! For when I am touched by your loving reminders of our relationship, I can persevere in prayer, and be freed for the work you give to me. Amen.
posted by Pat Gohn at
10/20/2005
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