Paul Rohs
Columnist
If you are anything like me, you’ve at least once been “accused” of being a creature of habit. Ever hear (or say) things like “that’s the way I’ve always done it,” “that’s always worked for me,” “why fix something that already works?” and blah blah blah. Blame it on human nature — that’s what I do — but we all fall into a routine for many regular activities.
Recently, my morning prayers seemed to be following a script. Being thankful for this, being prayerful for that or this person or that, etc. It caught me off guard and worried me in a big way. Am I repeating words just for the sake of repeating them? Am I praying for things just for the sake of praying for them? What am I doing? I absolutely didn’t want my prayers to be just that, words for the sake of words. I had no answer.
Well, scroll forward a few days to this morning. While driving to Murphy it hit me. Yes, regular prayer should be just that — routine. Our prayers should definitely reflect the way we honestly feel and what’s on our mind. If we’re thankful, we should say so. If we’re prayerful for some worry, we should say so. If we’re concerned or burdened for something relating to ourselves, our families or someone else, we should say so. As prayer is actually our personal conversation with God, we should say what we need to say as if we’re continuing our close conversation with our closest friend who is always by our side.
Oft times it is said that many treat prayer or our relationship with God as a spare tire. We pull it out and use it when we need it. When actually, prayer should be the active and mounted tires that roll us safely through our lives. As such, they need to be maintained. They must be safe, properly filled with the correct air pressure and have plenty of tread. That’s the only way they’ll be ready for whatever comes their way — whether a snow storm, heavy rain, burning temperatures or a really bumpy road. They’ll get us “home” safely.
We all have few friends in our lives who we keep in touch with over the years and beyond those
many major changes in life. Whoever that is, when those very few folks who, even after being
completely absent for years and years, get back together things just pick up right where they
left off the last time.
We often forget we have a far closer friend like no other, who has been with us and will be there
each and every moment of our lives. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I
knew thee.“ The very last verse in the Book of Matthew 28:20 states: "Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Seems like since this is the last statement in the entire book of Matthew, kind of like the “bottom line” it must be at least a bit significant. So, if our routine prayers are truly routine, it should mean that we know God is with us at every turn in the good, bad, scary, wonderful, tempting and everything in between. Then, we can and should talk with our one truest lifelong friend at every turn, then we know we’re ready to listen and more importantly, pay attention to what we hear. Just a little something to keep in mind.