Life on the run. Feel familiar?

 

 

 

 

Stick-to-it Prayers

We like to think of “leaving our burdens with Jesus” when we pray. Come to prayer, drop off a heavy load, leave with same-day service of renewed hope. Maybe this has something to do with our get-it-quick culture, like drive-thru banking and Starbucks on the run. A zippy “Jesus, I give my concerns to you. Thanks for taking them off my hands!” then a skip back into the hectic pace of life.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever unload short, quick prayers. I do that all the time! But I’ve learned some things are harder to let go of than others. They cling like Vaseline.

When my nephew, Eric Hauck (worship pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS) was a cute, chubby 18-month-old toddler, he climbed onto the bathroom vanity and smeared an entire jar of Vaseline all over his head. It took his mother twelve shampoos to finally de-slime his baby fine hair.

   Not long ago, I found myself trying to release my anxiety to the Lord, and it felt just like Eric’s Vaseline—sticky, stubborn—encasing my fingers, my heart. I couldn’t easily drop it off, shake it off, lay it down, release it, however you want to look at it. It was messy, slimy, and clinging to me with gooey fierceness.

And you know what I realized? To release something that is so stuck to my heart (like fear for my kids’ futures, or anxiety about my abilities to guide them well), I have to be persistent. I can’t zip through and drop off these kinds of concerns like I do a Netflix at the Post Office. They require more focus—I need to journal, read and ponder, seek counsel, spend more time alone with God, pray with my Prayer Sisters. Repeatedly.

Okay. So honestly? It’s harder than it looks. And perhaps the biggest challenge is slowing my frenetic pace so I can find the necessary time to focus. But I’m working on it. So, if you don’t hear from me any time soon, you’ll know what I’m up to!