Bits for Sunday, February 15, 2009

I will readily admit I’m an overgrown kid. I sleep in until ridiculous hours on the weekend, love to get presents as much as I love to give them, have no issues being on the phone for hours at a time, and think that animation (and any technologically updated version thereof) makes for a great movie. Without lists, I’d forget to do standard life chores like put gas in the car and do laundry. I work best when rewarded (chocolate is preferable) and am quite surprised that I haven’t resorted to chore charts with stickers to accomplish basic tasks.

And so it has come about that I am pursuing a new approach to prayer. Prayer has been one of my needs improvement areas of life’s report card this year, and I’ve been studying it both in my Bible study and in books that I’m reading. And of course, at church it has been the topic of both sermons and the midweek Bible study for the past few weeks. Note to Bekah: time to learn!

Last week I subbed for the midweek Bible study, and since my day planner list said I had too many chores to put hours and hours into preparation like I normally would, I turned the night into a discussion night. I figured in a group that size, surely people would have ideas and questions and we could foster quite the little discussion for an hour – and we did!

My question was this: what advice do you have for finding a way to pray more consistently over all areas of life? Imagine my joy when one of the ladies said she divides her prayer requests among the days of the week and focuses on certain topics on certain days. My mind immediately filled with visions of index cards (prayer and index cards are the perfect duo, I have decided)…and patterns…and maybe even alliteration. I was ready to walk out of the discussion on the spot, spread out at a table and begin my plan. But since I was “in charge,” I stayed and nudged the conversation until the appointed ending time, and then I began my mental plan.

I share the plan with you today for two reasons. One, it always helps if I have people randomly check in on me. (Overgrown kid checking in again.) Secondly, I figured maybe one or two of you out there might like a new idea if you’ve been feeling the same sorts of frustration that I’ve had.

Monday: Marriages and Ministries. For several years I prayed for marriages according to the day of the month; for example, if you got married on the first of the month, I prayed for you every month on the first. That worked out really well, but I got out of the habit a while ago and haven’t reinstated the policy. In the meantime, I figure Mondays are good days to pray for those who might be struggling or new in marriage…or about to be married. And it’s a good day to pray for ministries – organizations, specific events, opportunities in my own world – whatever is at hand.

Tuesday: Tune and ‘Tude. Tuesdays are just far enough away from Sunday that it’s easy to forget that “Sunday surge” and slide into a ho-hum week. It’s a good day to pray about staying in tune. And of course the ‘tude can always use help.

Wednesday: Work and Wellness. Halfway through the week is a good time to pray for those in the work place – pray to survive the next two days with them. (Just kidding!) And it’s the day I’ve decided to pray for people struggling with their health.

Thursday: Thoughts and Thugs. The thought life probably needs to be hit every single day, but I’ve decided to take one day and focus on the things that consume my thoughts. And since the Bible says to pray for your enemies…well…the thugs made it onto the list. Perhaps I should pray for them first and then tackle the thought life.

Friday: Friends and Family. It could be a long list – those two categories – so Friday works out well as a day to focus on them. After all, I’m allowed to stay up extra late that night!

Saturday: Sad and Sabbath. I have lots of extra time to think on Saturdays, and those end up being the days that I can easily become sad – because I think too much! So when those feelings hit – better pray about them! And quite a while ago I used to be good about praying in preparation of Sunday. I’ve not done well with that lately, so now is the time to return to praying about my own heart and the work of those who prepare for Sunday’s services.

Sunday: Sullen and Sundry. Sunday is typically the day I catch up on news – whether it’s something I see on TV or something that I read in the newspaper or online. It can make a person sullen. So I figured that would be a good day to pray about the gloomy parts of life and the world. And sundry…all the extra stuff that didn’t fit in anywhere else…the Sunday potluck, you could say.

So there’s my list. I’ll try it for a while and see how it goes. And like I said – feel free to check in on me!