Prayers with periods

A few days ago it dawned on me that my prayers have a lot of periods in them.

“Lord, thank you for this and that. Please do this, this, and this. Help me with that, and this and that.”

I do truly value humility, but I’m wondering if there’s an underlying high level of accidental arrogance in my prayer life. As if I’m telling God what to do. “Here’s a list of things I care about. Please answer me in the following ways.” Wow. God in Heaven is on the edge of His seat, waiting for His earthly to-do list from me. Ha!

So as I am very humbled by this misstep in my spiritual life, in my relationship with Him, I think there needs to be more question marks in my prayers.

“God, will you please help me today? Can You keep me from going down wrong paths? Which areas can I grow in and become less annoying to You and to others?”

The mindset of a servant who knows his own plan doesn’t really work anyway, so this servant has an open mind and is willing to ask for help, but not demand it.

Anyway, I know it’s only Sunday, I’m just thinking out loud. I hope you all have a super week with a handful of question marks and a few exclamation points sprinkled in! 🙂

-Out of the Wilderness

I guess I’m weird?

I recently had a chat with a good friend and he and I often talk about relationships. In this conversation he let me vent about something that’s been bothering me the past few weeks. So for that alone, if my friend is reading this– thank you, sir!

I won’t get into the details of my issues quite yet, maybe in a future post, but we wrapped up the conversation with this word play:

Maybe I’m single because I’m weird.
But I’m not weird because I’m single.

Thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

I AM that bird

The story of the bird I posted recently has managed to lodge it’s place in my mind ever since. As tragic as it was for the bird, the driver of the car, and me, I need there to be something good coming from it. What can I learn? What can I do to make up for it? That’s the main reason I’ve decided to save a bird, to balance the scales in a way.

Well, on a day trip to Memphis I had another thought about this bird and it almost stopped me in my tracks. This little bird was just trying to survive, avoid hardship, elude predators, to make a life for itself… this bird is ME.

I float around Nashville enjoying the beauty of all that’s here: friends, outdoors, music, all the good things I experience. I try to avoid hardship whenever possible, elude predators (like the inclination to have road rage, for instance), to be selfish, to lust… but a lot of times I am naive like this little bird. I land in the middle of life’s road just to be run over by sin.

I blame the evil forces at work in this world. They approach so slowly sometimes I don’t even see them coming. Then boom, they flatten me when I try to escape.

I’M THE BIRD.

While I was wrestling with these thoughts, halfway from Nashville to Memphis, I couldn’t help but become overwhelmed. Then this song popped up on Spotify…

…and I cried. God is so loving that, as a shepherd, He will leave the ninety-nine sheep to rescue the one who’s strayed away. I’m so grateful for this love. And as this song builds towards the ending, it becomes a celebration. I’m very much hoping and believing this is how life is supposed to go, too. No matter the struggle, it can turn into a celebration. Even as a little, often helpless bird, I can soar on wings like an eagle because I know God is FOR me. If only I can have hope in Him.

This hope is for all of us, too.

-Out of the Wilderness

 

 

“Don’t be a cutie pie.” – President Trump

I heard President Trump say this a few weeks ago after a reporter asked a question, clearly looking for a “gotcha” moment. I really liked his response. I’m going to try to work this in to every conversation I have for the foreseeable future.

-Out of the Wilderness

 

12 thoughts about Covid-19

Does anyone else have trouble going back to sleep after breakfast? Right, me neither.

“National Lampoon’s Covid-19 Vacation: ??”

I’m not sure how I feel about this song from Bon Jovi. It’s no “Bed of Roses,” I’ll say that.

I’m sure every city’s downtown is more like a ghost town. It’s eery. Here’s Nashville’s downtown.

Change isn’t always a bad thing.

Will the old normal ever be something we experience again?

I’m having allergies like I normally do this time of year but I’m afraid to touch my face, sneeze, sniffle, or do pretty much anything related to the allergies where people can see or hear me.

Lately, I do think the younger you are, the dumber you are. Stop hanging out like nothing’s going to happen, ya dang whippersnappers!

… and yet, people are amazing.

Once this is over, I’m not sure I want things to go back to how they were.

Has anyone else NOT watched Tiger King?

“Covid-20”: The 20 pounds of weight you gain while being quarantined at home. Similar to college and what’s referred to as the “Freshman 15”.

-Out of the Wilderness