I'll be praying for you...

I've heard it said that the lie that gets told most often is "I'll be praying for you." I think of this almost every time I tell someone I'll pray for them, knowing that I really won't. Recently I've made it a point to say a quick prayer shortly after I tell someone this, just so that I won't have told a complete lie. I'm also working hard at remembering to do it at least once more within the next week. It's still just so difficult.

I don't know why it's so hard to pray for other people. I'm sure it's got something to do with the fact that we human beings are focused on ourselves and rarely do anything that that doesn't give us some sort of immediate gratification. Praying for someone is cumbersome. I'd rather be thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner later tonight, what's going to happen on Grey's Anatomy, or if that smell is coming from me. Praying gets in the way. It's a shame though, cause if anything, this world could use a lot more prayer and I'll tell you why.

I've read that a good way to look at the God to human relationship is like a piece of paper with a line drawn on it.





_________________________________________.__________________





The paper resembles God and the line resembles our life path. We exist at one small point on the line. This point is constantly moving forward but can never move backwards. The line has a beginning and an end. God on the other hand, as the piece of paper, is dwelling in our past, present and future, all at once. He is omnipotent. Not only is He every place, He is every instance. He is helping me through stuggles as a 5, 10, 30, and 50 year old at the same "time" he helps me through struggles tonight. This makes His grace and forgiveness even more amazing to me considering He is witnessing the total summation of my sin from the past, present, and future constantly; from the beginning (is there such a thing?) into eternity.

With that being said, my mind is numb. I've never considered myself a theologian, so this may just be the ramblings of a mis-informed fool. But if this correct, is it possible that I can pray for someone or something, or a certain instance from my past and have it mean the same as if I had done it back then? God is not constrained by time, and if prayers are direct communication with God, the whole God, and not just a tiny section, then really, my prayers should echo throughout eternity, for all eternity, past, present, and future, simply because that's what God is.

For me, this puts a new perspective on prayer. For someone so concerned with leaving a mark on this tiny world, I find it exhilarating that a simple prayer can leave a mark on eternity.