Letting Loose
I started my nighttime prayers, poured out a bunch of details about my day, withholding nothing, let loose my emotions, and paused to lament my habit of venting to God not only about the earth-shaking events but also about the minutia.
Minutia
By minutia, I mean the myriad details that accumulate during my day, such as the things I did, the places I went, the snippets of conversation, things I neglected to do, my failures, the loose ends—and my feelings about everything. Why couldn’t I just move on to the important prayers for other people, especially those in difficult situations?
Wasting God’s Time?
Am I using using up more than my share of God’s time by reviewing the mundane? Perhaps it’s selfish for us to process life by praying about every little thing.
What Does God Say?
Is God limited in his capacity to listen to us? Of course not! If the volume of our rehashing was a problem, he wouldn’t have told us to,
“Pray without ceasing,” and “Let your requests be known unto God.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Philippians 4:7, respectively.)
Our Refuge
While we need to get past our own minutia so that we can pray for others, I think God wants us to bring everything that’s on our minds, even and maybe especially the things that would be trivial to anyone but us and him. He, more than anyone else, knows us, understands us, and wants the best for us. He’s our refuge. Thank God for his listening heart!
February 28, 2014
Norma Nill 