Things I don't need to pray for

Each day I try my best to have a prayer time while I am receiving my treatment. I say try because some days all I can think of is about having to go to the toilet. I have to fill up with water to keep my bladder from getting zapped with the beam. You know that feeling when you have to go and you can’t sit still. Well, think about lying still without a movement for fear that something else might get the mighty power of the radiation. It does not matter what you try to concentrate on, it does not affect that urge.

Now, I am sure that the Lord does not want perfunctory time for prayer, and that is all I could give Him if I am trying to pray and I gotta go! Fortunately, the situation is not so urgent all the time, and in those moments I have had some sweet time with the Lord.

I have been concentrating this week on things that I do not need to pray for. That’s right; there are some things that I don’t need to pray for. Here is a list of some of those things:

1.      My need to be appreciated. I don’t need praise from those around me. It is true everyone likes to hear positive comments about themselves, but in my heart of hearts, my Lord is the only one I want to impress. John 12:43

2.      My need to appear intelligent. I am not a preacher, I am a farmer, so I don’t have to impress everyone with how smart I am or what a great orator I am. My father-in-law only had a high school education, but he traveled in circles with national and international leaders. I once asked him how he was able to talk to so many intelligent people. He replied, “Most people only want to talk about themselves, so I listen closely and I only make occasional comments such as ‘It could very well be,’ ‘Among other things,’ and ‘Yes, indeed!’” People love it when you agree with them, and they think you are very intelligent. I Corinthians 1:17-21

3.      My need to be first. OK, so I am competitive, but I certainly don’t need to pray to be the first. Years ago Jason gave me a framed quote by Alexander Pope: “ Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.” Many times I have gained lessons from this quote, but primary among them is that I don’t need to be first. John 3:30

4.      My need to be wealthy. I thought I was marrying wealth when I married Cheryl. I was right, but not in the way I thought. Wealth is measured in so many different ways. We are wealthy with money by the majority of the world’s standards, but the best wealth is the love that I share with my family and friends through the bond of Jesus. Luke 16:13

5.      My future. I am not afraid of death. I don’t seek death, but when it comes I want to stare it in the face and know that I am ready to meet my Lord and sing with the choirs of angels. Jeremiah  29:11