Tree Talk

When I was younger, I remember my mom specifically coming into my room late one night and before we prayed she bestowed her wisdom upon me.

“Alicia,” she said. “I want you to not always pray for the same tree. Know that you can talk to God about anything you want! Don’t always just say the same prayers over and over, but tell Jesus what is on your heart.”

I folded my hands trying to figure out what my mom had just shared with me. So I began my prayer as normal. Something to the effect of, “God, I thank you for Grandma and Grandpa and Mom and Dad and Laura and Diana and winning the last baseball game. God, I also pray for our crape myrtle and our pecan tree.”

The next night I prayed something like this, ““God, I thank you for Grandma and Grandpa and Mom and Dad and Laura and Diana. I also pray for Grandma and Grandpa’s pecan tree, umm, and our pecan tree....” I peeked out of the corner of my eye to see if I would get in trouble praying for God to the same tree! I ran out of trees to pray for at that point!

While my mom was just trying to teach me to talk to God and pour out my heart to him, I only heard to pray for different trees. There are times our prayers may look the same for a while, “God please somehow heal my back.” Or “God, help me be content in my singleness.” Or “God, you have to help me on this test!” But we must be laying our heart before the throne and presenting our requests to the Lord.

Do you feel like there is something you need to lay down at his feet asking for His will to be done and not your own?

Are you praying your heart out when you talk to God?