Pray Big

There are times in the midst of prayer that I find myself listing so many different things that I start to feel just a little silly. 'Hey God, could you make this person well...and smooth out this relationship...and guide me in this aspect of my life...and help this person find a job...and make sure these people have enough to eat...and this...and THAT, that is a good one...Oh! and I can't forget all these things.' I feel like a child picking out candy and then I put this voice in my head as I imagine my heavenly father reacting like an earthly parent...'Now, you can only have one, which one do you want the most?'

I know it is me that puts that voice and that limitation on my prayers. I am the one that makes God smaller than He is when, after I catch myself praying for person after person and situation after situation, I finally just pray for everyone, everywhere to be happy and healthy having everything they need, then laugh to myself at how silly a prayer that is. I caught myself thinking about that prayer in the quiet of my commute.

'God, please make everyone happy and healthy and give them everything they need.'

While it sounds like something a child would pray at dinner to the amusement of those much wiser to the way the world really works, what is it that makes this prayer silly?

Isn't this what we are really asking for after acknowledging God's goodness and holiness in what many know as The Lord's Prayer?

Your Kingdom Come
Your Will Be Done
on Earth as it is in Heaven

So what then, I wonder, makes me at least pause and roll my eyes after I ask for such a lofty prayer in different words?

Isn't God good enough?

Strong enough?

Caring enough?

Big enough?

No, God is good and mighty and loves us and He is BIG enough for our biggest prayers.