Here’s a try at categorizing different kinds of prayer. There are the personal prayers, which I consider wishes: a convenient parking place, sunny weather for a picnic, a win for the Red Sox. I know better than to pray those, although there can be a certain quality of compassion in them, especially if they are for someone else.
Then there are prayers that I dare think God would agree with: that someone be cured of cancer, that a person stop smoking or drinking excessively, that a couple might conceive a much longed for baby. More compassion but I have to be careful of those. Years ago I prayed that a friend stop drinking. Well, she did. She fell down the stairs and died. I didn’t feel responsible, but that sure got me thinking about prayer. Who was I to think I knew what was best for her?
I know that my best prayers are the ones in the “Thy will be done” category: that Christ’s peace surround the person and situation I am praying about. I try to leave it at that and not include any addendum of my own.
Then there are prayers that I dare think God would agree with: that someone be cured of cancer, that a person stop smoking or drinking excessively, that a couple might conceive a much longed for baby. More compassion but I have to be careful of those. Years ago I prayed that a friend stop drinking. Well, she did. She fell down the stairs and died. I didn’t feel responsible, but that sure got me thinking about prayer. Who was I to think I knew what was best for her?
I know that my best prayers are the ones in the “Thy will be done” category: that Christ’s peace surround the person and situation I am praying about. I try to leave it at that and not include any addendum of my own.
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