Hello dear friends.
Today there’s something I’d like to share with you that I think not enough people think of, about praying to God.
I pray. I’m not that great at it. I tend to get distracted in the middle. But I like it. Having a chat to my Father in heaven – He’s right there, looking out for me, always, and He knows. He knows because He made the very bones of me and loves them.
I heard a pastor say praying is like, if you haven’t spoken to your child in a while and then they come in all excited and want to tell you about their day, you’re not going to say “Hey, why haven’t you spoken to me for ages? I’m not talking to you. You can go away and think about it.” The parent would be excited and say, “Oh hello my darling, come sit with me, tell me everything, I’m so happy that you want to talk!” and this really helped me.
So, praying. I think people have this thing where they’re like, “Doesn’t God have more important things to worry about?” And I get it. When you’re praying for your kid’s homework to get a good mark, or that a date goes well, or even that you find somewhere to park in a hurry – well, I don’t know about you, but I’m apt to have the image of an earthquake or a terrorist attack pop up in my head and I go ‘I am SO selfish, God has better things to worry about!’
But then I remind myself: that’s not true.
See, I’m all for praying for those situations where it seems hope is void; because where there is darkness, only light will help, and we aren’t all equipped to give it, and sometimes only the Lord can help, or He certainly guides us – with a LOT of guiding – to where we can be useful. But we in ourselves feel helpless. Here, pray.
But in our own lives for ‘little’ things. Never believe God does not have time for you.
When we think that, we are imposing our own limits on God. But God has no limits. It’s like trying to imagine a new colour; when something is completely beyond our perception, we will try to fit it onto our horizons to make sense of it.
When we, as humans, try to solve problems, we have so many boundaries. We have to prioritise, because we have finite time and energy and resources. So if we had a day off and a list of chores, you are going to prioritise buying food over cleaning the dustbin, because you are human, with all the wonder and faults and limits and joy that brings.
However, God does not have these limits. As strange a concept as it may be for us to grasp, God’s infinite presence and time, omnipotence and mercy and goodness and kindness, and the love of a father to each and every person in the world means that if something matters to us, it matters to Him. God has time, because He is time, and makes time, and is everywhere, and has infinite capacity to love and to help and to heal. And not only that, but this actually renders the concept of priorities kind of useless.
See, if you had a child, and your child came to you crying with a broken toy, you wouldn’t dismiss them and say “I have more important things to do – don’t you know there is someone in the next room who is far more important?” You would help the child because at that moment, your own baby is upset and it’s within your power to help. That’s how God feels – we’re his little children and everything we care about is important to him. AND God has no ‘priorities’ because He does not even need this concept.
Now if that same parent had it within his power to help all of the children, at the same time, with problems ranging from broken toys to broken friendships to – anything at all! … That’s like God. He can help everyone. He has no limits. He is infinite, with limitless power and love and empathy to warm all hearts and take all hands.
God always has time for you because He loves you, and He cares. Even if, to stick with the child analogy, he chooses not to fix the broken toy – because there is something to learn from it, or because there is a better one coming, or because you no longer need it, and He sees this where the child does not.
Trust in God is what gets me through life, and knowing His unlimited capacity to care for me no matter how ‘small’ my worry sustains me through every struggle I may have.
And this, in a way, is a prayer to You my God, of thanks and hope. For being there for me no matter what. And I hope that anyone reading my prayer can understand even a tiny bit better.
‘God is my strength and refuge, my present help in trouble.’
And ‘He’s got the whole world in His hands!’
With love from me X
In Other News, Graduation
It’s not a funny ‘in other news’ sorry – just a piece of life news! Got back together with my maties at the weekend, had a smashing silly hat parade, told my favourite lecturer that she was my favourite lecturer and she gave me a kiss, went out for lunch, had dinner with my bezzie S in our sexy campervan, made her a love note, went on a night out and lost my voice, drank neat schapps on a bus like a teenager, S knocked a glass off a three-tiered stone balcony and smashed it on the stage below, the camerawoman fainted during the graduation ceremony and fell off the rig with an almighty crash (we think she was OK), umm… Basically I just had an awesome time and it was SO good to see my superhero friends again. Love you all.