Thought for today - 11/09/2014

PRAY WHAT IS IN YOU
"When I pray, I end up praying about things I think I should be concerned about: missionaries, world peace, and global warming. But my mind keeps wandering toward stuff I am genuinely concerned about. The way to let my talking flow into praying is this: I must pray what is in me, not what I wish were in me.

"Shel Silverstein once wrote the "Prayer of the Selfish Child": "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my toys to break, So none of the other kids can use 'em. Amen." Children come to their parents with all kinds of requests: wonderful, foolish, generous, and selfish. What matters to parents, however, is that their child comes to them. They know that they can guide the child's growth - as long as their child speaks openly with them. It is the hidden heart, not the selfish heart, that is hardest to change.

"This is 'in everything' kind of prayer. I don't wait to clean up my motives first. I don't try to sound more spiritual than I am. I don't pray what ought to be in me. I pray what's really in me. The "in everything" prayer is the most common kind in the Bible. I just try to attach one sincere rider: 'Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.'

"As long as we have unsolved problems, unfilled desires, and a mustard seed of faith, we have all we need for a vibrant prayer life."

- John Ortberg, The Me I Want To Be