(As an aside, I don't know how this li'l tag-team thing of Kelly and me talking about prayer got started, but here's another post on the subject ...)
Pew Lady Kelly offered up a simple, yet great idea for all those prayer intentions that come our way during the course of just doing stuff - pray them on the spot so in case you forget during your regularly-scheduled moment(s) of prayer, or for some reason don't make it at all to your moment of prayer, you will still have offered up a prayer for them.
But it occurred to me that not everyone asks for a prayer, and as a matter of fact, probably don't "deserve" prayer.
Two of my primary job duties involve driving a car and working with customers. Now, between the two, I encounter a lot of people whose only goal in life seems to be to tick me off in one way or another. I recall reading the phrase "near occasion of sin" not long ago, and by golly, some of these folks ought to have their pictures in the dictionary next to the entry.
So I'm trying an experiment, sort of a personal challenge, for Lent. I don't expect to be 100% successful - if I can pull any success at all out of the hat, I'll be happy. The experiment is this: if I find myself in one of "those" situations, I am to consider it a de facto request for prayer by the instigator. "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6,28
I hope it will also be, in its execution, a means of curbing a favorite "uncontrolled appetite" of mine - letting my anger run away with my imagination. You know, where even if you don't express out loud how you feel, you imagine all the things you'd like to say (and occasionally do, depending on how bad they get your goat) to their face.
Anyway, there's the argument for this experiment. We'll see how this goes. Please pray for me on this one (whether you like me or not!).
Pew Lady Kelly offered up a simple, yet great idea for all those prayer intentions that come our way during the course of just doing stuff - pray them on the spot so in case you forget during your regularly-scheduled moment(s) of prayer, or for some reason don't make it at all to your moment of prayer, you will still have offered up a prayer for them.
But it occurred to me that not everyone asks for a prayer, and as a matter of fact, probably don't "deserve" prayer.
Two of my primary job duties involve driving a car and working with customers. Now, between the two, I encounter a lot of people whose only goal in life seems to be to tick me off in one way or another. I recall reading the phrase "near occasion of sin" not long ago, and by golly, some of these folks ought to have their pictures in the dictionary next to the entry.
So I'm trying an experiment, sort of a personal challenge, for Lent. I don't expect to be 100% successful - if I can pull any success at all out of the hat, I'll be happy. The experiment is this: if I find myself in one of "those" situations, I am to consider it a de facto request for prayer by the instigator. "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6,28
I hope it will also be, in its execution, a means of curbing a favorite "uncontrolled appetite" of mine - letting my anger run away with my imagination. You know, where even if you don't express out loud how you feel, you imagine all the things you'd like to say (and occasionally do, depending on how bad they get your goat) to their face.
Anyway, there's the argument for this experiment. We'll see how this goes. Please pray for me on this one (whether you like me or not!).
|