A Perfect Prayer

Sometimes during my workout, I take the word “neighbor” literally as the person on the machine next to me.  Yesterday someone was there and as I was working out I started praying for him. I prayed for him, his family, his friends, and his job, but it felt jumbled and messy, and not quite right.

I stopped myself for a moment and thought…

Holy Spirit, please give me the words to pray for this man.

I think I was hoping for specifics about him to better pray for this one man, but the next thoughts that started flowing through my mind were…

Let him Glorify You with his life,
Let him Glorify You through his marriage,
Let him Glorify You through his children,
Let him Glorify You through his job,
Let him Glorify You through his family,
Let him Glorify You through his friends.
Let him Glorify You in all aspects of his life.
Let him Glorify You with his life.

Halfway through this prayer I realized that these words were not mine, they did not come from me. I realized this prayer had been given to me.

I am still in awe of this perfect prayer.   It’s beautiful simplicity and it’s perfect logic that both allow it to be prayed over everyone while keeping it always aligned with His will.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
– James 1:17

Hold your head high!

When I was young I played tennis and I had a coach who once told me to be confident.  He said to hold my head high and walk a little slower when changing sides between games.  I always remembered this and since that conversation I have tried to do hold my head high, walk slow and have confidence in myself.

As I was running today I was thinking about how nice it is to hold your head high.  It gives you such a different perspective and view as you walk or run through life.

When you look down most of the time you see more of the man-made things, shoes, pants, streets, side walks, cars, tires.  When you hold your head high you can see more of what God has made, the eyes of others, flowers, birds, trees and even the sky in your peripheral vision.

I want to keep holding my head high, but I am going to try to change the reasoning behind it.  I don’t want to hold my head high anymore in confidence, pride, or superiority.

I want to hold my head high so that I can keep God in sight!

Jesus, thank you for the beautiful and natural things that fill our world and surround even our man-made things with your beauty.  Please help us to always keep You in our sight!