At the risk of appearing to be a complainer I am going to go ahead and air one of my pet peeves. If you are not up for any negativity at this particular moment you should stop reading now and come back later when you are feeling grumpy. Then you can grump with me. Here goes. I am weary of hearing people pray for “special blessings.” What’s wrong with “regular blessings”? As a matter-of-fact I am immensely thrilled each day to receive a plethora of “regular blessings.” God is so good to us. He opens the windows of heaven and rains goodness upon us. Isn’t that good enough?
If one of my sons asked me for a “special blessing” I would ask just exactly what he was talking about. Isn’t my bottomless love enough? I try. I really do try to watch for opportunities to do nice things for them. I think our heavenly Father does the same for us. “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Those are pretty good things.
I am going to make a guess that when most people pray and ask for “special blessings” they aren’t really thinking about what they are saying. Our public prayers are filled with platitudes and often we slip into an automatic flow of clichés to start a meeting. But that brings me to another annoyance – people praying without thinking about what they are praying. I’m sorry that’s a bit harsh and very judgmental. But maybe once in a while we could hear someone pray something “original.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 4, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org