I have, in the young life of my marriage, bought two copies of Stormie
O'Martian's The Power of a Praying Wife, both for myself. I bought the first not long after we were married, rolled my eyes at the rigid gender roles, and tossed it into the library donation bag. About six months ago, I bought it again.
The gender roles still drive me batty. But I'm a big believer in, "take what you like and leave the rest," so I'm trying. I'm looking for dirty-laundry prayers, and not sunbathed-meadow ones, and and I appreciate that Ms.
O'Martian is trying to speak to the ordinary parts of our lives. The Celts are good for this, imbuing the mundane with gratitude and recognizing the
presence of the sacred, but the language isn't quite what I want. Right now, I just want to remember to bring all the crap, all the regular stuff to God. I'm not having a mountaintop time, I think it's ditch-digging time for me, and I don't want all the ruffles and flourishes.
I'm not sure that we
mainliners are very good at this. We give awfully pretty prayers, but I think I've forgotten to say, "Hey, here's what's going on. I'd really appreciate some help with it." (I say this to affirm that language is sacred, not to deny it. I love those beautiful prayers. We need all the richness and complexity we can get, but in the course of attending to complexity, sometimes we omit the necessary texture and contrast that simplicity brings.)
So, in honor of the mandatory Wednesday night church services of my youth (thank you, Miss Lynn and Mr.
Dail), I'd like to initiate Prayer Request Wednesdays, and anyone who wants to join in is welcome. I'll pray for your messy lives, and if you're so inclined, you'll pray for mine. We won't fix each other's problems, we'll just ask God to do whatever it is God's inclined to do.
Here's what I've got this week:
- We would really love for Mr. M to find a new job. The current one is increasingly unhappy.
- If that new job could involve moving, we would really love to strike out and have adventure in a new place.
- Mr. M and I really need to relax and have fun. We're getting cranky and taking ourselves too seriously.
If there's any way I can pray for you, let me know in the comments. If you'd like to email me, you're welcome to do that, too.