An
Inkling
I
finally crossed it off my list. High on
my prayer list for six years has been the request that my parents would find
the time right to move from Texas to Virginia, where they could live near the
rest of the family. And now they
have! We moved them into their new home
yesterday. It still looks more like the
staging area for an invasion than a home, but we’re getting there.
Part
of my morning prayer ritual is to make my way through my prayer list,
addressing the Lord about this and that need.
I probably make it through my list about two thirds of the
mornings. So in six plus years that’s
about 1500 prayers. That seems like a
lot. But then I also have some prayers
still pending answers that I’ve pursued for nearly forty years. I don’t even want to do the math on those!
As
I think back on the course of these prayers, I recall that some days I’ve been
quite bold, quoting the “you do not have because you do not ask” verse, and
laying claim to all the prayer promises as I’ve tried to prompt the Lord to
move it along. But then other days I’ve
been in the mode of the “they that wait upon the Lord” verse, trusting God with
the when and how of it all, and looking for where he’s at work in the meantime.
Have
you ever had that kind of back and forth in a long-term prayer pursuit? In a way it seems schizophrenic. But I heard someone offer a better
image: think of it as a dance. The back and forth motion of prayer is led by
a Dance Partner who knows exactly what he is doing. And we can trust that each of the motions is
part of the larger dance of which he’s made us a part.
And
then, of course, when the answer comes, it’s time for the happy dance! May your Christmas be just as full of happy
dances as ours this year!
Blessings,
Keith
