The title of this post was the meal prayer prior to a business lunch with a group of about 50 business professionals that I attended.
The man that was scheduled to pray is not religious and not a Christian, per his own introduction prior to his prayer.
His intent was to accomplish the task he was asked to do and to be humorous, so I think, since I can’t judge his motives completely.
I’m not offended, hurt or angered, but I’m disappointed, not in him, but in the overall direction of our country to make God a casual being with causal references.
Should this be the case in our society?
Call me a conservative, or a Bible-thumper, or a legalist, or any other term that you like, but it seems to me that this prayer is an example of how we have minimized God today. We have made Him a buddy, a pal, a teammate, a coworker, or something else less than what He is.
He is…
The Creator!
The Savior!
The Provider!
The Comforter!
The Truth!
The Life!
The Way!
This list could go on forever, because God’s character covers the entire gamut of all possible perfect qualities that exist.
So, what does this mean to me?
Shouldn't I be treating Him with greater respect than a casual prayer?
I’m positive that He deserves every possible ounce of respect, that me, as a meager human, can possibly muster. I need to give Him all the honor, that I can, since he deserves it.
The amazing thing to add to this, is that, even though He deserves it, He still puts up with my frail, feeble and failing nature, as I try to honor Him like I should. He puts up with my attempts to honor Him and then He honors me back, in ways I could not even think possible. He is beyond good to me, He’s great to me! He loves me with all my failures - I’m not sure why, but I’m so glad He does.
The other amazing thing, to me, is that He allows me to share my hurts, failures, pains, complaints and every other aspect of my day and life, with him. He listens to me when I need someone to hear me, even if I don’t cry out to Him with the proper nomenclature, or my words are not in the proper order, or with correct grammar. He just listens to my needs and takes care of me. He just keeps loving me, no matter my weaknesses, or how I treat Him.
Even though I think that prayer may not have been the best, God still loves the one who prayed it, and He loves you and me too!
Lessons Learned: Don’t treat God casually - He deserves so much more.
Thoughts: Have you ever realized that you’re talking to the Creator of the universe, when you pray?
#failalot
AMEN AMEN AND AMEN
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments and for reading!!!
ReplyDeleteYou might be my brother from another mother! As I look through your posts I send a prayer to our Creator. Amen!
ReplyDeleteI've recently started a blog and am stumped about my real "Niche." Today, your follow led me to your site, (I always look up a follower to see if I should follow back), and it also answered my prayer. I should really say, "The Lord answered my prayer through you." Thank you for that.
I come from a large family with so many fond memories, deeply rooted faith... Many people have encouraged me to write about family stuff but as a retired teacher, CCD teacher, nurse (even before I turned to teaching), crafty person... I figured there was something else I should be doing. But I was wrong. Even when I taught the craft of writing, I would most often teach from the perspective of my family. Isn't that what real authors do? I can answer affirmatively. Yes! Most definitely.
Now, to get to your blog... OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! We often fall into the more casual place with HIM. It is not always right, but it is not always wrong. Many years ago, at a Jesuit retreat I attended with the Confirmandees under my tutelage, I observed a beautiful painting of Jesus, surrounded by children, laughing with gusto. Have you ever seen such a painting? I had never, and have never seen one since. But there he was, "laughing Jesus." It struck me that our Creator has a sense of humor. And that warms me to HIM even more.
You are right on target when you note that "even though that prayer might not have been the best, God still loves the one who prayed it." Your point is well taken. In prayer, we should approach our Lord with reverence and awe. But I know, as I believe you know, that this depth of faith is a level of grace which not everyone has reached. Our prayer for those folks is that they continue to grow to that point.
I ramble, but on another note I am compelled to share that as a family of eleven (nine children, two parents), we always prayed before our meals. Our Grandma's name was Grace. And when one of us would ask, "who's saying Grace?" We would all shout in unison, "GRACE!" Followed by "Rub-a-dub-dub, Thanks for the grub... Yeah, God!" We would then fall off our chairs laughing because we thought we were absolutely hysterical. I wonder if that guy was one of my wisecrack brothers :-D Of course we eventually got to our seats again and said "Grace before the meal" the right way. God, I miss those days! Bless you.