Butterflies and Hot Tea

This article first appeared in the February 2012 issue of HHPC’s The Connecting Link.

Finally, it is snowing! I know that many of us have been enjoying the milder winter weather that we’ve been having. But I have actually wanted to see some snow. And the sooner the better, if you ask me. If winter weather is delayed, I’m always afraid that just means spring will be delayed.

Someone said something very interesting the other day about snow, and about the minimal amounts we have seen this winter so far. Did you know that farmers actually like snow? They need it, in fact. On the ground, it provides excellent insulation and protection for the topsoil, so that it will be ready for growing things in the spring. And as the snow melts in the spring, it provides valuable water for the coming crops. Between the farmers and others who depend on the snow, people like me who just like the pretty white landscape, and kids who jump at the chance to stay home from school and make snowmen and have snowball fights, I wonder if there are people who even pray for snow. I bet there are.

What do you pray for? And I mean that question in two ways. First, what requests make up the contents of your prayers? Do you pray for health? Good weather? Fortunate circumstances? A change in your current circumstances? What do you pray for?

But also, what do you pray for? In other words, why do you pray? Is it a way to simply “keep in touch” with God? Is it a way to convey our hopes and dreams, our wants and needs? Do we think that if we pray enough, God will hear and answer our prayers? On the flip side, do we think that if we don’t pray enough, God will not pay attention to us, to our hopes and dreams, our needs and wants?

As Christians and as churchgoers, we are taught how to pray, and we are taught when to pray. We pray before meals, we pray before going to bed, we pray before momentous events, or before embarking on travels or adventures. At HHPC, we pray at least four times during each worship service. In addition, we pray to open and close meetings. When I visit with someone, whether in my office, in the hospital, or in their home, prayer is always part of the visit.

And we pray for a lot of things. We pray for health and for healing; we pray for situations to go the way we want or need them to; we pray for the welfare of our loved ones, friends and family; we pray for situations of need that affect the larger community and people we don’t know – we pray for an end to war, to poverty, to hunger; we pray for safety and security.

Given all of this, it is so important to know what we are praying for – to know why we pray, and to examine our own motives and expectations when we pray. For the next few months, I will be exploring some of these reasons and motives. I will be talking about the ways in which we understand – and sometimes mis-understand, prayer.

As we talk about prayer in the following months, I want to invite and challenge you to take an additional step. In addition to reading articles in the newsletter, as we explore prayer together, I would invite you to read the book of Psalms. This is a book of prayers. And in it you will find all sorts of prayer – and all sorts of motives for prayer. Reading the Psalms is a good way to remind us of our need for God in all situations, and of the myriad of reasons why we can and should pray. It is a wonderful way to remind ourselves what we pray for. See you in church on Sunday!

In Joyful Anticipation,

Pastor Lara

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