forgive1Developing a habit of daily prayer is the biggest development of 2016 for me. Before 2016, I prayed occasionally, very occasionally. Now I pray as regularly as I eat and drink.

Because prayer has become important to me, I talk about it a lot. Several people have asked me to pray for them. This past week, a friend asked me to pray for one of her friends, a mother with small children who is facing cancer

I think about prayer as an offering of love energy that God distributes according to wisdom that is greater than mine.

I find it easy to pray for people who are sick or injured or dying. I can hold them up before God with an open heart.

I am glad to be enlisted in praying for friends, but I am really a baby when it comes to praying. Quality control is a problem for me.

There are some people on my prayer list because they have hurt me or people I care about. They are on my list because I object to their behavior. Today, I caught myself reviewing the faults of some of those people and not praying with an open heart for them to experience the goodness and grace of God.

What caught me was realizing I would not want anyone to pray for me like I was praying for them. I want anyone praying for me to sincerely ask God to bless me and help me. I had to ask God to bless them with a greater measure of love than I could muster as an offering.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” I’ve got a lot more work to do on forgiving those who have hurt me.