prayer

“There is nothing the devil fears so much,
or so much tries to hinder, as prayer.”
St. Philip Neri

(George, our local black racer /Julie Cook / 2021)

So this morning, at breakfast, we had all gathered around the table and our 3 year old
granddaughter,The Mayor, demanded she say the morning prayer.

She God blessed everyone at the table, thankfully remembering all at the table..
she has been known to leave out one gathered at the table…
as in an immediate part of her family…

And so after covering all her bases, she continued…”and God bless the snakes (she
has a real love / hate relationship with snakes…don’t we all??)
and she proceeded to God bless the alligators…
I heard a chortle from her father as I raised an eyebrow…alligators??
She does have an alligator toy.

So later, after everyone had left, I recalled the moment of our morning
prayer to my husband…
“reckon where the snakes and alligators came from???” I mused,
“I don’t know but I bet God rather appreciated that prayer because I doubt
many people God Bless those particular creatures of his….”

And naturally that got me thinking…
Thinking about who and what it is that we pray for and pray over…

Our granddaughter was very sincere in her prayer for these particular critters.
And I’m certain God did appreciate it…

Snakes and alligators are not the first on the list of most folks prayers.
Personally I have an extreme aversion to those things that want to kill or eat me!

And so that got me thinking…
maybe that’s the point…
maybe we need to be praying for those things that are not exactly on the top
ten list of what we think we should be remembering–maybe, just maybe, we need
to pray for that which is not popular, warm, fuzzy or cute…praying for
that which is not always inviting or desirable…maybe…just maybe
that’s the point.

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless.
I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.
It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”
C.S. Lewis