by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
It's not
that there were a lot of snow flakes today – it was having any of
them still with us when Mother's Day is right around the corner and
stories are starting to receive 4th of July merchandise.
Of course, I'm from California and there we expect winter to last
maybe a weekend. So I watched the snow flakes drift down for a while
trying to make it to the ground. Our lives are like snow flakes,
you know. Living can be tough, even when gravity is working with you
instead of against you.
For all of
us life is uncertain. Good and bad, things happen. That is one of
the reasons I signed up to pray.
At St.
Peter Church we have a Cycle of Prayer. Pat Hazeltine sends out the
names of people who need our prayers and we send those prayers out to
God for them. It is a wonderful experience to know you are not
alone. As you pray, others are as well. We connect and grow.
There was a
time when requests came in over the telephone, now we receive these
via the internet. So sometimes I open my email box and there is a
Prayer Request waiting for me. I always open them first. You never
know what you will find. Sometimes you know the person; sometimes it
is a complete stranger whose life you will touch – and it does not
matter.
As
Christians we know we are One in Christ and so praying for someone we
will never meet, holding them in your mind and heart as you reach out
for them in prayer, matters.
There are
no rules for prayer. You pray for those who have died, those left to
mourn and those struggling with the problems to which each of us are
subject. Prayers are given for those who have made it through
surgery and those facing any kind of hardship you can imagine.
Praying
always makes me feel closer to Christ, that ineffable presence which
is always there if we will put aside ego and receive Him.
Prayer
brings insights to your own life as well. The act of praying breaks
down the barriers within which life builds even without our knowing
it. Prayer has become a path to self-discovery for me, and for
millions.
Snowflakes
and prayers. Unexpected blessings releasing us to more fully love
one another.
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