It’s been pretty quiet on the blog for the past six weeks.
We took a week-long family vacation, were home for a few weeks and then left
again for two-plus weeks to visit our families in Iowa, Minnesota and
Wisconsin. We’ve been home now for a week and I’m feeling caught up.
The quiet on the blog has had two causes. One is the busyness
I mentioned above and the other has been the lack of inspiration when it seemed
as if there was some time to write. This morning I thought that I might write
something, if I had a topic to write on. But now, late in the afternoon,
I spent an hour-plus on a Zoom meeting that wasn’t on my calendar, and I still
haven’t had any thoughts to write on. Well, not until 15 minutes or so ago.
What happened was this: I told Robin that I was heading to my office, to work on
some lesser things. Friday is my usual day off. As Thursday winds down the
major tasks of the week are done but there are some minor things I could take
care of yet before dinner. So I went into my office, closed the door, sat in my
chair. Then I folded my hands and bowed my head to pray.
Right before I came into my office Robin had been telling me
about a phone conversation she had, noting that two very ill people we’ve been
praying for seem to be taking a turn for the worse. As I sat down whatever I
had intended to do got pushed aside as I felt drawn to pray for these two
people. And praying for them reminded me of a number of other people to pray
for. A person who was ill. A person whose spouse just passed away. Another
person on hospice care. A person with a very troubled life situation. A person
dear to my heart who has no desire for the Lord.
It is said that God works in mysterious ways. That was
certainly true for me today, in the simple act of being drawn to prayer rather
than following the intended plan of the tasks at hand.
Considering the kinds of things that the people I prayed for
are facing, prayer doesn’t really seem to be much. But they are prayers lifted
to the Lord God Almighty, who always works according to His purposes, and for His
glory. Prayer may often seem like a little thing, but it is never a lesser thing.
