Thursday, July 10, 2008

Do you have a clue what I'm talking about?


I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but I think a lot. (I also talk a lot but we are not talking about talking today, we are talking about thinking.) There is always something rolling around in my head. (I often refer to it as a carnival in my head...sometimes you win the giant stuffed animal and sometimes you're stuck with the ten cent goldfish.) Often, my thoughts are about two steps ahead of my mouth. (Those of you who know me are nodding your head in agreement. This explains why my conversational paths often appear unrelated when, in truth, if you lived inside my head, you would clearly see how I got from point a to point b. You would also likely be slightly disturbed and uncomfortable because inside my head is a strange little place.)

Anyhow, before I digress any further, I thought I might pull some of my thoughts out and let them see the light of day.

Yesterday God and I had a conversation about Him. (We had one today too but that's not the conversation we are discussing at this moment.) Two very small, mostly insignificant prayer requests were sent up yesterday and they were both answered almost immediately. They really didn't mean much to anyone other than the two people who requested them.

They weren't for world peace or health cures or even for lost souls.

Just two little bitty requests that were only important to the two who asked.

As I was driving home later that day, I thanked my Father for loving us so much that He answered even these teeny tiny requests. And I got the feeling that He wondered why I was surprised. After all, does He not know the number of hairs on my head? Of course He does. All of this then led to a discussion about "reserve bids" and prayer expectations.

Why is it that we feel that an event or request in our lives must meet a certain standard before we bring it to the Father? That it must be a certain size or a certain level of importance to be worthy of discussing with Him? Kind of like the "reserve bids" that ebay sellers sometimes put on items. Once the thing hits a certain price (or level of pain or discomfort or cluelessness or confusion) then it must be important enough to bother God about.

Which leads me to wonder how many hours (or days, months, years) of heartache and confusion I might avoid if I would just bring everything to Him. As I said here, I am a life in progress, covered by grace. And while I'll always be a life in progress here on this earth, I'm hoping this is one thing I can conquer for good.

In the meantime, I'll be dancing over the little things as well as the big.


And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Luke 12:7

5 comments:

Abba's Girl said...

I pray over little things all the time, He wants us to do so.

annette said...

I get caught in that. Like I shouldn't bother Him with that. Once I got so upset with a woman for every week we prayed for her child to be potty trained. I know it was significant to her, or even if it wasn't she was right to pray and ask for prayer over it. I love those little surprises though of His ever present Hand in our lives. Thanks for the reminder to pray over everything and give thanks! Love, Annette

Angela Baylis said...

I know I tend to wait to go to God when I'm in crisis mode! Thank you for the reminder to pray for the little things! Thank you for your friendship, Karen! It means the world to me! I hope you are having a relaxing night!
Love you,
Angie xoxo

LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE...GOD'S GRACE said...

Enjoyed your thoughts on prayer and the "insignificance" that we might feel about our "requests" to God...

~Beth~

Lori ~ The Simple Life at Home said...

I have asked myself that many, many times. I mean, I do pray for little things, but I don't always have that automatic response to pray about everything. Sometimes it's like, "Oh, yeah. I should pray about this!" And then I feel stupid.

Maybe we could do the Creative Counterpart book when I get back from Jordan. We could say we'll start in September??