"Intentionality of wholistic living means being all of who I am and the best of who I can be at church, home, and work." -- John C. Maxwell, Life@Work
One of my goals this year has been to pray more. I know that probably sounds funny coming from a pastor, but since becomming a pastor I've been noticing that one of the areas in which I struggle is my prayer life. It's not that I don't pray, or don't know how to pray because I do and I do. But I don't pray often, and I struggle with praying out loud in front of my congregation.
My congregation members reading this are either a) flinching because they've thought maybe my prayers of the people could use some improving or b) flinching because I openly admit that I struggle with prayer. Or maybe there's a c) and they're just glad to hear that even pastors struggle with prayer. Hopefully it's a little bit of C mixed with either A or B.
I digress.
So one of my goals this year has been to pray more. I got a book on prayers and it's just simple, simple prayers for every day beauties and it reads more like a book of Christian poetry than Christian prayers (though I'm a firm believer that poetry can be prayer and visa versa). Today was one of those days where I was reminded of the power of prayer and how awesome this God we worship really is.
This has been an interesting week. It's involved trying to figure out how to adopt a cat that I've been taking care of in an apartment that doesn't allow pets and getting stressed out about trying to clean through the clutter that has accumulated in said apartment. I stopped yesterday to pray about it. I especially prayed about this cat (whom today I named Jael). I admit I prayed for God to help me find a way to adopt her, but I also prayed for God to take care of her because she deserves better than being stuck outside all winter. Jael is a large, short-haired black cat who was abandoned around my apartment building and she goes from apartment to apartment on the bottom level. We take care of her, give her food and water, and I've even been letting her sleep in my apartment because it's been getting really cold out. The cold is what had me worried. Winter is not kind, especially for a cat that seems to be okay outside but is definitely amazing around people. She's a great cat, and I've gotten pretty attached to her. So I decided I want to keep her, but I need to find someone to look after her until June when I can move out of the apartment.
Yesterday afternoon I put a message on facebook hoping someone had such a someone in mind. By last night, I had a response from the daughter of my executive presbyter who said she'd be happy to take Jael until June and it would be a good trial run to see what having a pet is like. I am SO EXCITED. Truly an answer to prayer!
Jael spent the night with me last night and we had no heat. It made for an incredibly cold night. This morning I attended a Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in town, and on my way I dropped off my pet rodents at my church office where they could have heat and not be around when my landlord comes to check on the furnace (of course, leaving the church I managed to fall down a flight of four stairs and twist my ankle, and this was 6 a.m., so you can imagine what my mood was like after not having heat and now I've fallen down a flight of stairs).
"Dear God," I said, "please give me patience and strength to make this through this morning. Help me to praise you even when I'm super cranky." I might have added an expletive accidentally. When I got home, I had to call my landlord about the heat. Not only was my landlord IN THE BUILDING when I called, but he was there WITH A MAINTENANCE GUY. I had heat by 10 a.m.
It was one of those moments where I just felt humbled. Leave it to God to interrupt a bad day with something amazing. In my case, it was amazing timing. Not only was I super relieved that the gerbils and guinea pig were already out of the apartment since my landlord was coming right over, but my landlord was literally a flight of stairs away from me. God has this amazing ability to know what we need and take care of us, and I think I'm going to add a line to my prayers asking God to help me remember that God takes care of what we need.
I feel really blessed today, and I don't say that to brag. Or maybe I am. I'm bragging about God. God is so awesome and so amazing and so good to us, even on those days where we have to get up at 5 a.m. after 3 hours of sleep in a caccoon because we're so cold. Thank God for God! Makes me think differently about prayer. I still wrestle with prayer and how I pray, but I've been trying to remember to pray about that, too. God is so good to us, and my prayer for you is that you are able to see God in the world around you and may that brighten your day whether your day is filled with stress or joy.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
