Too Full?

Daughter, you are learning to read and write. Every week, a list of spelling words comes home along with daily reading. So we read sentences like "The red car is coming." Or "My tower is going up and up." This morning, you asked me to help you write a sentence: "I am getting full." For some reason you added "god" at the end of the sentence to read "I am getting full God."

Do I ever pray this way? When I am receiving too much of a good thing, do I admit I am getting stuffed?

Rarely.

Many of my prayers acknowledge the things or attitudes I don't have. "Dear Lord, please help me through this day because I'm not feeling well. I really need joy and wisdom." Or "Lord, help us with our finances so we can meet all our Christmas gift giving desires with cash." And as I pray for others, I ask for things they need. Health. Money. Wisdom. Hope. Joy. I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with praying that way. After all, Christ encouraged His followers to pray for the provision of "daily bread".

However, at times our prayers reflect our selfish desires and dreams. For instance, why do we often pray for health? Because it easier to praise God when we are feeling 100%. It costs less money. We can be more independent. We can better serve God in the way we deem best. We can prolong our life. But is it always best?

It is very difficult to pray sacrificially. How about this, "Lord, I pray for my children, that they will come to an intimate, deeper relationship with you, whatever it takes." Oh boy. I have trouble praying that because I want your lives to be as pain-free as possible. But is a pain-free, comfortable life truly beneficial for your spiritual growth?

Here is another angle. What if we, as North Americans, prayed, "Heavenly Father, you have blessed us with peace and prosperity. We have more than enough. Please take some of the peace and prosperity from our lives and bless others who desperately need it." Now, I know that God doesn't need to transfer such from one person to another, because He can create it on His own. Nonetheless, the attitude behind this prayer is powerful. Are we willing to lose some of our calm out of love for those in chaos? I struggle to say yes.

Christ is ultimately our example. When faced with the pain, suffering, and humiliation of the cross, He prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will," (Matthew 26:39). His prayer for us during that time of agony is found in John 17:  
My prayer is not for [my disciples alone]. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. (verses 20-25)
What an example of praying in such a way to share abundance with others! May we, as a family, be like Christ today and in the days to come.

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