A Simple Prayer

"Dear God, thank you for the beautiful day. Thank you for my mama and my friends. Help me be a good boy at school tomorrow. I love you. In Jesus Name, Amen." This is what I heard as my little 4 year old grandson said his prayers at bedtime last night. A simple prayer to be sure, but direct and exactly what his Father in Heaven wanted to hear.

Sometimes I go to bed praying that God will intervene and take care of all the tedious problems that are mine. And I struggle to remember everything that I need to remember to tell Him about, because you know..He really needs me to? No. He already knows. 

Sometimes I forget that the omnipotent God that rules all of creation really doesn't need every tiny detail.  After all, He's been with me the whole day long.  He knows what is going on in my life.  He just wants to hear me say, "Thank you for the beautiful day and give me opportunities to show Your Goodness through me. And forgive me today because I didn't look for the opportunity you tried to show me."  And the most important thing that He is waiting to hear..."I love You!"

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
Colossians 4:2
"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Whispering Clothesline

When I was a little girl my mother had a washing machine.  But in the back yard she also had an old black wash pot (you know, the kind that looks like a witch's cauldron) where she boiled rags and sometimes my daddy's really dirty work clothes.  I used to like to get in there after it cooled off and sit up to my neck in the water before Mama had a chance to pour it out.  She always got aggrivated at me and couldn't understand why I wanted to sit in that dirty water.  Well, it was fun. I was kind of a wierd little kid, I guess.  No wonder my mama was so worn out on wash day. 

But the best thing we had in the back yard besides the wash pot, my swing or the cats was Mama's clothesline.  She would hang her freshly washed sheets on the line and I loved to stand between them and breathe in the cool sweetness.  It gave me a feeling of being up in the clouds...like being in Heaven. 

As a child in my innocence I always had the feeling that I was not alone. I don't mean that I knew my parents were watching over me.  I felt something else, something in my heart.  I thought I was the only one who had a feeling like that.  Of course now, looking back, it was God who was always there beside me.  There in the drying laundry that flapped around me, He whispered to my soul that He would never leave me.

The years passed by and I grew away from the backyard of my childhood.  And I have been on the journey that is my life for fifty-seven years.  When I look back, I can see the crooked paths that I took.  Things I shouldn't have done.  Things I should have done.  Mistakes that I will always pay the consequences for.  Life is like that for most folks, I think. If you're not careful, you may think you are all alone.  You're not. 

The old clothesline of my youth is gone.  So is my precious mother.  Today is her birthday, by the way.  She was born to this earth ninety-eight years ago and went to her real home in Heaven in February of 1978.

Sometimes when my faith walk begins to feel a little off course, I try to imagine myself standing in the gentle breeze of the billowing sheets.  And when I am still and listening, I can hear God whisper that He is still here.

Happy birthday, Mama.  Thank you for the clothesline.

"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8